Leeds United can land all-round midfield maestro in Shea Charles, latest upset is exciting

Leeds United would be signing perhaps the Championship's best all-round central midfielder in Shea Charles.

The latest reports suggest the 22-year-old has his admirers at Elland Road, and could be on Leeds' transfer to-do list this summer in an exciting development.

Central midfield isn't a pressing issue for Daniel Farke, but there's certainly no harm in having another quality performer added to their engine room.

Charles is a product of Manchester City's academy, and would make one competitive appearance for them in a Premier League draw with Brentford in May 2023.

However, the Northern Ireland international would join Southampton in the summer of 2023, and has really started to kick on ever since.

2025-26 was a career campaign for the central midfielder, and it's not hard to see why Leeds are reportedly sweet on signing him when you take a look at his numbers.

How did Shea Charles fare for Southampton in 2025-26?

Naturally, some players specialise in one key area of the pitch or their individual game, and fall short in others.

Then there's the few who simply excel all over the pitch, and Charles is certainly one of those players.

A defensive midfielder by trade but one who is more than comfortable playing higher up the pitch, few midfielders shone brighter than the Saints star in the Championship last season.

He scored three goals and provided two assists in 31 second-tier outings in 2025-26, with 21 of those coming as part of the starting lineup.

As per FotMob, Charles registered an average of 1.51 shots on goal, created 1.16 chances and played 2.32 accurate long balls per 90 last term.

Meanwhile, he also won 6.36 duels, took 70.6 touches with 2.02 in the opposition box and won 1.85 fouls per game respectively.

In defence, Charles recorded 2.11 successful tackles, 1.29 interceptions, 5.72 recoveries and 0.56 possessions won in the final third per 90 as well, proving just how impactful he was at both ends of the pitch.

Further showing his all-round ability, his three Championship goals scored last season found the net via both of his feet and one with his head.

Daniel Farke would have non-midfield ability with Charles

A player that has to be accounted for in all facets of the game, Charles is an ascending young talent that looks ready to take on the Premier League.

Farke likes a player that can operate in a number of different positions; James Justin, Ethan Ampadu, Jayden Bogle and Anton Stach are some examples of that.

Because of this, he will be very impressed if/when he learned of Charles being deployed as a right-back in Southampton's final game of the Championship season last term.

He played the full 90 minutes there in a position he'd only ever been asked to perform in a handful of times prior during his career, with Saints beating Preston 3-1 that day.

Charles completed 84 per cent of his passes, created two chances, had two shots on goal, played 11 passes into the final third and made seven recoveries in that match.

Leeds may not necessarily need a central midfielder this summer, but to pigeonhole him in as being that and only that would be absolutely wrong.

Charles is so much more than a central midfielder, as he's proven himself to be one of those players who a manager can ask pretty much anything of, and he'll go and do it, and do it well.