Major Leeds Utd transfer U-turn as defender pursuit is abandoned to relieve Daniel Farke

Club Brugge have looked at Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk recently but will not be pursuing him this week despite the Belgian transfer window remaining open.

That’s according to Het Nieuwsblad, which has explained how Club Brugge have been thinking of reinforcing their defence recently. Struijk was born in Belgium, so has been under consideration by the Jupiler Pro League side.

Reports as far back as July mentioned Struijk as a target for Club Brugge, who are managed by former Celtic boss Ronny Deila. It appears he has still been on their radar up until recently.

The transfer market is still open in Belgium until Wednesday, which have given Club Brugge the window of opportunity to pinch Struijk from Leeds if they want.

However, Het Nieuwsblad has confirmed a move will not be happening this week after all. Club Brugge have decided against signing a centre-back for a couple of reasons.

For one, they have missed out on Champions League participation and will only be in the Europa Conference League, which has impacted their budget.

In addition, Deila is keen to provide a platform for young defenders, Jorne Spileers and Joel Ordonez. With that in mind, Club Brugge are willing to wait until January to see how things pan out.

Whether they could move again for Struijk by then or consider other targets remains to be seen. The 24-year-old remains under contract with Leeds until 2027 and it is less than 12 months since he signed his most recent extension.

Struijk could have become part of Leeds exodus

Since then, Leeds have suffered relegation from the Premier League, which led to a devastating number of departures from their squad in the summer transfer window.

In Struijk’s territory of defence, they said goodbye to the likes of Robin Koch, Maximilian Wober, Diego Llorente and Ramsus Kristensen.

Therefore, it would have been a blow for Daniel Farke to be deprived of another player he can call upon in defence – and indeed has done for all seven of their matches so far this season.

While the English transfer window was open, Leeds reinforced their defence with the arrivals of Joe Rodon, Djed Spence, Ethan Ampadu and Sam Byram.

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