How Leeds have just become a lot closer to signing Jacob Widell Zetterstrom from Derby

Leeds United's pathway to signing Jacob Widell Zetterstrom is set to get easier.

The 27-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Elland Road this summer, as Daniel Farke plots an overhaul to his goalkeeping department.

Lucas Perri's debut season was hugely disappointing, and talk is mounting over whether he's got a future in West Yorkshire beyond this summer window, whilst Karl Darlow is now a free agent.

Zetterstrom enjoyed another excellent campaign for Derby last season, keeping seven clean sheets from 32 Championship appearances as the Rams narrowly missed out on the play-offs.

He's now on his way back to Pride Park after he and his Sweden side were knocked out of the World Cup by France in the Round of 32, with the Derby keeper starting that game.

So, with Zetterstrom now able to link up with Leeds immediately if a deal is to be agreed, the Whites may just have quietly moved closer to securing his services.

Derby identify Widell Zetterstrom's replacement

Leeds are still yet to make their first transfer breakthrough of the summer, but that may not be the case for much longer.

As per a report from The Sun, Derby are plotting a move for Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

The 24-year-old is now Saints' second choice option between the sticks, after they turned Daniel Peretz's loan deal from Bayern Munich into a permanent one earlier this summer.

This report goes on to state that Derby are indeed expecting to lose Zetterstrom before the start of the season, and their potential swoop for Bazunu would appear to be motivated by securing his replacement.

Should Derby firm up their interest in Bazunu, it could open the door for Leeds to move quickly in their own pursuit of Zetterstrom.

Why Zetterstrom won't have hurt his Leeds chances despite World Cup exit

As aforementioned, Sweden are now heading home from this summer's World Cup after their 3-0 defeat to France.

Graham Potter's side won just one game at the tournament, but were able to progress to the knockout stages as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

Unfortunately for them, they ran into Les Blues in the Round of 32, with Zetterstrom forced to pick a Kylian Mbappe brace and a Bradley Barcola goal out of his net.

Despite this, he didn't let himself down on the world's biggest stage, as he performed excellently against Japan in their final group stage game and France could've had plenty more than three if it wasn't for him either.

As per FotMob, Zetterstrom prevented 0.27 goals, made one diving save and one from inside the box as well as 11 recoveries against Japan.

Meanwhile, the France loss saw him make a whopping nine saves, prevent 0.83 goals, complete 10 recoveries with three diving saves and four from inside the box respectively.

So, Zetterstrom may have shipped four goals in two games, but if you watched those two Sweden games and when looking at his underlying numbers, he proved that he's got the ability to take on Leeds' number one shirt if signed this summer.