By Neil Champney

9th Aug, 2020 | 8:40am

Phil Hay issues verdict on whether Leeds will revisit reported bid for 24yo after £20m Jan snub

Leeds United have not gone cold on the idea of signing Southampton forward Che Adams, but as it stand he is “not available” this summer, according to Phil Hay.

The Whites have been linked with the striker for some time now, and reportedly had a number of bids knocked back for him during the January transfer window.

According to the BBC, Leeds even went as far as to offer a £20 million obligation-to-buy clause if they got promoted back to the Premier League.

But that deal never came off, and Hay is not optimistic about the chances of it being rekindled any time soon.

Writing for The Athletic, when asked by a fan if the Whites had cooled their interest in Adams, he said: “It’s not so much a case of going cold.

“It’s more of a case of Adams being firmly in the picture at Southampton.

“As it stands he’s not available.”

As far as we’re concerned, this probably isn’t the worst news in the world.

Adams is still a young player with plenty of time to grow and develop, but at this present moment in time, he is nowhere near prolific enough to justify Leeds making a big money move for him.

The 24-year-old his just four goals in 30 Premier League outings last season, and three of those came in the last two games of the season.

His shot accuracy is lower than Patrick Bamford’s, as per Wyscout, and his xG is almost half as much as the Leeds man’s.

Maybe in the future this can be one that the Whites reignite, but right now, we think it could be a blessing in disguise that he is unavailable.

In other Leeds United news, this Sky pundit has been raving about a “dynamic” Leeds-linked forward.