By Craig Scott

6th Jan, 2022 | 7:10am

Dharmesh Sheth: Leeds United have shortlist of midfield targets with Fernandez deal done

Leeds United now have a shortlist of midfield targets to work on after completing their first January signing on Tuesday, according to Dharmesh Sheth.

Mateo Joseph Fernandez officially joined the Whites from Espanyol this week with the 18-year-old striker joining up with the club’s Under-23s team.

And Sky Sports News reporter Sheth now suggests that Leeds’ next move this month is to add to Marcelo Bielsa’s midfield options.

“Leeds United made their first signing of the window yesterday (Tuesday). They have a shortlist of midfield options now,” said Sheth, as shown in the clip on Sky Sports’ Transfer Centre on Wednesday [5 January, 06:52pm].

Who’s on the list?

We’ve seen numerous names linked with Leeds but nothing seems to be close, as of yet, for the Whites.

Caligari’s Nahitan Nandez seems to get linked in every transfer window. TuttoMercatoWeb report that there’s a bid being lined up for the Uruguay midfielder but we won’t be holding our breath regarding that.

John Swift of Reading is an interesting one as his contract expires at the end of the season while Huddersfield’s Lewis O’Brien is someone fans might not be surprised to see mentioned after how strongly he was linked in the summer.

Bielsa and Victor Orta have their work cut out this month to strengthen the midfield because Kalvin Phillips’ long-term injury issues mean that selling clubs will ramp up their prices.

They’ll know we’re desperate but ultimately, this is an issue that Leeds should have sorted out in the summer transfer window when they clearly had some money to spend based on the Daniel James transfer.

Let’s see how things go in the coming days because we need to see some names getting concretely linked to Elland Road.

As of yet, that hasn’t happened.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites could sign this “fantastic” right-back before the window closes after a £3million reveal.