James Horncastle: Bielsa would be massive attraction for De Paul at Leeds United
The Athletic’s James Horncastle claims Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa could be a “massive attraction” for Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul.
The 26-year-old Argentina international has lit up Serie A with a plethora of stunning performances this season.
He was strongly linked with a move to Elland Road last year when he took to Twitter to say he would be keen on joining the Whites.
De Paul has also been linked again ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window with Italian football website Il Milanista reporting that Leeds and Liverpool are leading the race for the Udinese star.
Speaking to the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show, The Athletic’s Serie A journalist Horncastle responded to whether or not De Paul will sign for the Yorkshire giants in the coming months.
When asked if De Paul will be a Leeds player next season, Horncastle replied by saying: “I’m still curious about this.
“Obviously Bielsa, his continued presence at Leeds, if he does sign a new deal, he’s obviously a massive attraction for any player but particularly for an Argentine player.
“Whenever Radrizzani speaks, Radrizzani always says that the goal isn’t just to be a team that fights against relegation and survives at the end of the year in the Premier League.
“He wants to push on and get the team into Europe and to be honest, De Paul is the kind of player that I think would make that kind of difference.
“It depends on budget and Leeds have stayed up, they haven’t gone straight back down, they will be able to count on Premier League money yet again.
“At the moment, I think it’s still quite a fluid situation, I don’t really know what Leeds’ appetite is for meeting that asking price, which is still very high from Udinese, we’ll have to see.”
Pray to the gods
We’ve written at great length about how good De Paul has been for Udinese this season and how good a player he will be for Leeds.
Going into the summer transfer window, Leeds have several areas of the squad they will most likely want to improve.
Bielsa could do with a new back-up goalkeeper if Kiko Casilla, a new starting left-back, potentially a back-up right-back, a striker and a couple of central midfielders.
De Paul ticks a box for Leeds in that regard because he’s played centrally for Udinese this season, captaining them in Serie A and scoring nine goals and assisting 10 in 35 league appearances.
There’s no denying that he wouldn’t be a starter for Leeds too with the Argentina international showing he’s more than capable of playing for a top team with his performances at Udinese.
De Paul can dribble, he can pass, he can create opportunities and he can score. What more do you want?
He’d slot into this team so well and you can assume that Bielsa would have a huge role in completing a deal if one was to materialise.
In other Leeds United news, Charlie Austin claims this star has flown under the radar at Elland Road.