Leeds United transfer news as demand made for Leo Hjelde sale
Leeds United have set a price of £1.7m on defender Leo Hjelde amid interest from Serie A side Salernitana according to Italian newspaper Corriere Dello Sport (pg 21).
Salernitana finished last season 15th in the Italian top flight and as they look to strengthen their backline they view the Leeds defender as a potential back-up to Croatian defender Domagoj Bradarić, but the Whites are standing firm on their valuation.
The Norwegian defender spent the second half of last season on loan at the New York Stadium with Rotherham United, making 13 appearances as they dodged relegation from the Championship.
Leeds have already had a number of high-profile defensive outgoings this transfer window with Robin Koch joining Eintracht Frankfurt, Rasmus Kristensen heading to Roma on a temporary deal and defensive midfielder Marc Roca’s loan switch to Real Betis being confirmed.
Maintaining some consistency
As previously mentioned, the turnover at Elland Road this summer has already been drastic, both on the pitch and off of it and although Hjelde wasn’t at Leeds when they were relegated, he has been on their books for the past two years.
In that time he’s only managed five first-team appearances, with Pascal Struijk or Junior Firpo normally preferred on the left side of defence. If both players remain in Yorkshire this summer, it would seemingly make sense for Leeds to allow Hjelde to depart for a more than reasonable fee as he will likely find minutes hard to come by once more.
The loan market has been utilised plenty by United this window and with the Norwegian only being 19-years-old, you would imagine that the preference would be for any switch to be a temporary one as Hjelde is more than capable of having a bright future ahead of him.
But if the Whites are able to add to their transfer funds with a seven-figure sale for what at the moment is ultimately a fringe player, that would represent some rather good business heading into their return to the Championship.
In other Leeds United news, Wilfried Gnonto is set to meet Daniel Farke today for the first time as he returns for pre-season