Daniel Lewis

Tue 22 August 2023 21:40, UK

Leeds United have not made a move to sign Brighton & Hove Albion’s Facundo Buonanotte, according to Graham Smyth.

Argentine journalist Bruno Gonzalez Garcia claimed on Monday [21 August] that Leeds were on the verge of announcing a loan deal for the playmaker.

However, Smyth reported in a Yorkshire Evening Post article on Tuesday [22 August] that those claims are wide of the mark.

Smyth wrote: “The YEP understands that reports of a move for Brighton’s Facundo Buonanotte are wide of the mark but his profile as a chance creator would make sense.”

False dawn

For all the talk of exits in recent weeks at Elland Road – and ongoing questions over the futures of Wilfried Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra – Leeds could really do with bringing in a new player or two before the window closes.

Suggestions of a deal being all but agreed with Brighton for Buonanotte would have got supporters a little more upbeat for the season ahead, but that transfer does not look remotely close to being sorted.

Buonanotte scored one and assisted another in 13 Premier League appearances for Brighton last season, despite only turning 18 in December, which would have made his arrival in West Yorkshire a bit of a coup.

The search for a new attacker or two goes on, though, and Daniel Farke now faces more frustration ahead of Leeds’ trip to high-flying Ipswich Town unless a deal – whether for Buonanotte or someone else – can be finalised soon.

As this development goes to show, you really cannot afford to get too excited about a possible arrival until an announcement is officially made.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites’ hopes of landing a Premier League striker also appear to have been ended.