Leeds United table £34.1m bid to blow AC Milan out of water in race to sign Charles De Ketelaere
Leeds United have made a bid worth a total of £34.1million to sign Club Brugge forward Charles De Ketelaere as they aim to beat AC Milan to the Belgian’s signature, according to Il Messaggero.
The Italian newspaper reported on Wednesday (6 July) that Leeds are posing a threat to Milan in the race to sign the 21-year-old attacker, even though he’d rather head to the San Siro than Elland Road.
Leeds have reportedly submitted a bid worth an up-front fee of £29.8million with an extra £4.3million in add-ons.
It is understood that AC Milan are only offering £17million plus add-ons.
Club-record bid
Leeds are offering a club-record deal to sign De Ketelaere.
Rodrigo cost the Whites £27million in 2020 while the addition of Daniel James last year was £25million, rising to £30million with add-ons.
Leeds’ up-front offer for De Ketelaere surpasses both of those initial fees and the add-ons mean it will be easily the biggest signing in the club’s history if Brugge accept and the player accepts too.
However, we cannot shake the feeling that Leeds are barking up the wrong tree here.
It seems as though the Brugge title-winner has his heart completely set on a move to AC Milan and, in all honesty, who can blame him?
Milan have just won the Serie A title and will be a top seed club in the Champions League next season.
They also have Alexis Saelemaekers on their books, a young Belgium teammate of De Ketelaere, who’ll no doubt be keen to see the Brugge forward move to the San Siro too.
It’s nice to see Leeds chasing players like De Ketelaere but it really doesn’t seem as though anything will come to fruition and Victor Orta might as well move onto other targets if he wants a new striker.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites want to sign this English left-back as Orta continues to work his magic.