Leeds United

Leeds United

Championship

Leeds delighted as Leicester move on from Whites star and enter ‘advanced talks’ over alternative forward signing

Marc Roca, Pascal Struijk and Jack Harrison of Leeds

Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch will be very happy after Leicester City opted against moving for Jack Harrison and instead began pursuing a Brazilian winger.

Harrison continues to be an important player for Leeds, even if his goalscoring output is not as good as it has been in previous seasons. This term, the wide man has played 19 games in all competitions, notching one goal and six assists.

Leeds recently became concerned about a possible bid being made for Harrison. Leicester developed a shock interest in signing him on Wednesday.

According to The Telegraph, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers admires Harrison for his work rate and the fact he can play well with either foot. Due to this, Rodgers began pushing Foxes officials to make a bid for the Englishman.

At a recent press conference, Marsch was asked about Harrison potentially leaving Elland Road. He responded: “I’ve heard that there’s things about him. He’s an important player for us. I’ve not dicussed it with Jack because for me it’s very clear.”

Leicester’s interested in Harrison appears to have been short-lived. They soon acknowledged that he would be quite expensive to sign, given his important to Leeds.

As such, Leicester started chasing 22-year-old Brazilian winger Tete instead. He is currently on loan at Lyon from Shakhtar Donetsk.

There has now been a double update on Tete from French source Foot Mercato and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Leicester confident about landing Jack Harrison alternative

Foot Mercato claim Leicester are ‘convinced’ they will be able to land the Ligue 1 ace before the January transfer window shuts on Tuesday.

However, they will only be able to do this if they pay both Shakhtar and Lyon. Shakhtar will be owed a transfer fee, while Lyon are demanding compensation for cutting Tete’s loan short.

Romano, meanwhile, believes negotiations between Leicester, Shakhtar and Lyon are ‘advanced’. It seems Rodgers’ side are getting close to reaching an agreement for his move to the King Power.

Leeds have also been linked with a swoop for Tete, who represents Brazil U23s on the international stage. On this, Romano added: “Understand Leeds United are focused on Weston McKennie deal despite links with Tete.”

It looks like Leicester will have a free run at Tete, as Leeds will not put up any competition to capture him.

Tete is close to becoming just Leicester’s second signing of the winter window. Their only other arrival so far has been Victor Kristiansen from FC Copenhagen. When joining the East Midlands side on a long-term contract, Kristiansen said: “It feels amazing. It’s really exciting to be here and I’m so excited to meet everyone at the Club, as well as the fans.

“The Premier League is probably the best league in the world, and Leicester is a top team, so of course, I was excited.

“It was a no-brainer for me to say yes to this great opportunity.”