Craig Scott

Sat 25 July 2020 8:40, UK

Leeds United are in “in-depth” talks to sign River Plate centre-back Lucas Martinez Quarta, according to Calcio Mercato.

The Italian news outlet claims that Inter Milan are also keen on signing the 24-year-old Argentina international, who is valued up to £13.6million by Argentinean giants River.

Calcio Mercato reports that Leeds want a “luxury” signing after sealing promotion to the Premier League and it seems that in-demand Quarta is a man who Marcelo Bielsa and Victor Orta are keen to sign up.

Leeds need at least one new centre-back before next season starts with Ben White’s loan deal expiring and Gaetano Berardi suffering a long-term ACL injury.

Liam Cooper could be left as the only natural centre-back among Bielsa’s options although Pascal Struijk’s emergence at the back-end of this season suggests that the Leeds boss does have someone there ready to snatch a spot in his first-team if there’s one up for grabs.

As good as Struijk has been, he lacks the experience that Quarta does, with the 24-year-old being capped twice by Argentina, earning 96 senior appearances for River Plate and winning the Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent to the Champions League.

Stats by WyScout suggest that Quarta could be a good replacement for White if the on-loan Brighton man does not return to Elland Road.

Quarta has averaged 12.44 recoveries, 5.96 interceptions and 2.88 clearances per 90 minutes of league football for River Plate this season.

White has averaged 12.28 recoveries, 3.84 interceptions and 2.23 clearances.

As for passing, Quarta’s pass accuracy in the league is 85.9 per cent with him averaging 51.5 attempted passes per 90 minutes.

White’s accuracy is 87.6 per cent with him averaging 48.67 per 90 minutes of Championship football.

Their numbers really aren’t that far off from each other with Quarta’s standing out slightly more from a defensive point of view.

In other Leeds United news, Marcelo Bielsa wants to sign this 15-goal striker from a German club.