As Thursday’s January transfer deadline approaches, Leeds have made formal attempts to sign two central defenders for Daniel Farke, but not found any success so far.
On Monday, Fabrizio Romano reported that the Whites had made an approach for Bournemouth’s Chris Mepham, alongside Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United, but been told by the Cherries that he wasn’t available for transfer.
This came after news that the Championship promotion-chasers had been unsuccessful in their first loan offer for Everton’s Ben Godfrey, although 49ers Enterprises are determined to land him and are planning another bid.
Even though Mepham won’t be joining, though, it doesn’t appear to be Godfrey or bust, with another name entering the discussion as the window enters enters its final 48 hours.
Leeds now eyeing up Worrall move
According to journalist Alan Nixon, Leeds are interested in Joe Worrall at Nottingham Forest. Farke’s side are in the “chase” for signature and, intriguingly, Sheffield United are in the frame once again, just as they were for Mepham.
It’s said that Forest want £6m to part with Worrall, which would make him the most expensive Championship addition of the window, comfortably surpassing Middlesbrough’s £2.5m capture of Aston Villa’s Finn Azaz.
Worrall fits Leeds bill but price too high
Like Mepham and Godfrey, Worrall has been playing limited minutes in the Premier League this season, and it makes a great deal of sense for a side in the upper ecehlon of the Championship to target that kind of player midway through a campaign.
Worrall, a product of the Forest academy, has played 226 games for the club overall and led the team out for the first five Premier League matches of the new season, but has hardly featured since. He wouldn’t so much as make the matchday squad between the end of October and Boxing Day after Forest banished him from first-team training despite the absence of any disciplinary concerns. Instead, the club had simply told him and Scott McKenna to find new clubs in January.
The departure of Steve Cooper and the arrival of Nuno has improved things for Worrall, who’s been named amongst the substitutes again for the last three league matches and started the FA Cup third-round tie against Blackpool. However, it’s worth stressing that he remains down the pecking order at the City Ground, having been benched for the replay against the Tangerines and the fourth-round clash with Bristol City.
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£6m may seem like a hefty demand for a player on the periphery, particularly in comparison to the kind of fees second-tier clubs have been paying this month, but Forest will say that he’s still a good age at 27 and has two and a half years left on his contract. It remains to be seen whether either Leeds or Sheffield United can negotiate that price down and move forward with a transfer.
