Leeds steal a march on Liverpool in pursuit of centre-forward – report
Leeds United have “stolen a bit of a march” on Liverpool in the race to sign in-demand Wigan centre-forward Joe Gelhardt, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper reports that Leeds hope to sign the 18-year-old striker, who is in the final year of his contract at cash-strapped Wigan.
Liverpool-born Gelhardt is also said to be wanted by Everton, Tottenham and Celtic but it seems as though Leeds are winning the race for this signature at this moment in time after assuring themselves a spot in the Premier League next season by winning the Championship title.
Gelhardt has scored one goal in 17 Championship appearances for Wigan this season and is widely seen as one of their best young players having been compared to Wayne Rooney.
Wigan’s financial crisis means that the England Under-18 international could be up for grabs on the cheap this summer as the DW Stadium administrators find a way to stop the club plunging into oblivion.
Leeds have won promotion so it’s not as though they need to go shopping for bargains this summer but when a good young player comes along and is available for peanuts, it’s going to be tough for Victor Orta to turn a blind eye.
Orta has transformed the look of the Under-23s in his three years at Elland Road, bringing in a glut of players from England, Scotland and across the world to pad out the number of players available.
Gelhardt is someone who is far more experienced in English football than some of Orta’s gambles and might be pushing more for a first-team spot next season rather than playing in the Under-23s, who need a new manager with Carlos Corberan set to join Huddersfield.
He’ll definitely have a bigger shot of getting in the first-team than he would elsewhere at places like Liverpool, Everton and Spurs, though.
And that could explain why the Whites seem to be winning the race to sign him at this stage.
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