National journo left ‘stunned’ by latest update on reported Leeds striker target
The Sun journalist Alan Nixon has admitted that he was left “stunned” by the news that reported Leeds United target Joe Gerhardt only has a year left on his current contract.
The Wigan Athletic striker is one of several players who could be offloaded in the coming weeks as the Latics try to slash their running costs after entering administration recently.
The Sun have named Leeds as one of the clubs who are interested in making a move for the 18-year-old hitman alongside Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Southampton, and Celtic.
Gelhardt only signed a new deal with Wigan at the end of last year, but there appears to be some confusion over the length of the deal.
According to The Sun, the understanding was that the starlet had put pen to paper on a three-year deal.
But a failure to register the contract properly means that the forward’s agreement actually only has one year left to run.
When pressed further for details on the story on Twitter, Nixon wrote: “Been a problem with the registering of it.
“Stunned me”.
This is a bizarre situation to say the least.
First and foremost, it’s incredibly sad to see Wigan go through their current turmoil.
After a superb run of form this year, they have been hung out to dry by poor ownership, and it would be very undeserved if they were to be relegated because of a points deduction.
From a pure Leeds perspective, however, the shorter Gelhardt’s contract, the better the price they should be able to negotiate for him.
According to The Athletic journalist Adam Crafton, his price is already expected to be as low as £1.5 million, with talks scheduled for Monday.
Phil Hay has also confirmed Leeds’ interest in him, and while we will face a decent amount of competition if we are to land him, it’s not unreasonable to believe that we stand a solid chance.
In other Leeds United news, Adrian Durham has compared the Whites with “useless” Tottenham.