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Leeds United looked into last-gasp deadline day deal for Leicester forward Kelechi Iheanacho - Phil Hay
Leeds United looked at a number of forwards before the transfer window closed on Thursday and Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho was one of them, according to Phil Hay.
Writing via The Athletic website on Friday (2 September), Hay reported that Leeds tried and failed to sign Cody Gakpo, Hwang Hee-chan and Bamba Dieng before eventually landing 18-year-old Wilfried Gnonto from FC Zurich.
It is understood that Blackburn’s Ben Brereton-Diaz, Swansea’s Joel Piroe and Nigeria international Iheanacho were also looked at late on by the Whites but Hay claims the Foxes striker was “unattainable”.
Why not try sooner?
Leeds knew they needed a striker and Iheanacho would have actually been a terrific signing.
He’s spent almost all of his spell at Leicester playing as second-choice striker behind Jamie Vardy and he’s yet to start a Premier League game this season for Brendan Rodgers.
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The ex-Manchester City striker has come off the bench for the last four games and while he hasn’t scored in them and it’s been a woeful start by Leicester, he’s still a proven goalscorer considering his squad status.
In 176 appearances across all competitions since joining Leicester in 2017, Iheanacho has scored 47 goals.
He’s scored regularly in Europe, netted against top Premier League teams like Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United and even went on a spree of scoring for fun back in the 2020/21 season.
Iheanacho would have been perfect yet Leeds didn’t bother pushing the boat out to sign someone who would be genuine competition for Patrick Bamford.
We get the feeling that there’s a fear at Leeds that they’ll upset Bamford by signing another striker because nothing else makes sense.
We’ve needed a proper back-up option for the England international for years.
Gnonto isn’t that.
In other Leeds United news, we’ve been exclusively told how a Radrizzani agreement is blocking the 49ers from investing in the club.