Leeds United

Leeds United

Championship

Sources: Leeds greenlight Championship loan exit as Blackburn, Sunderland launch attempts to sign Sonny Perkins

Leeds Utd attacker Sonny Perkins

Leeds United are ready to let Sonny Perkins leave on loan next season and a host of their Championship rivals are keen to secure his signature, TEAMtalk understands.

The 19-year-old joined Leeds last summer from West Ham, for whom he had made three senior appearances. He made his debut for his new club in November, featuring in the League Cup and FA Cup over the course of the season.

In January, he scored his first professional goal in an FA Cup match against Cardiff City after coming on as a substitute.

He was a regular in their matchday squad, and although never playing in the Premier League, he made the bench on a couple of occasions.

In cup competitions, he finished the season with three appearances (only the first of which was a start) and one goal. They all came under the reign of former manager, Jesse Marsch.

At under-21 level, Perkins scored 11 goals from 18 appearances in the Premier League 2 regular season and one from two in its play-offs, as well as one from three in the EFL Trophy.

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Now, despite Leeds’ own relegation, they are ready to allow Perkins to move on a season-long loan deal elsewhere in the second tier.

TEAMtalk understands half a dozen Championship clubs have registered their interest in the England youth international and we understand amongst them are Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Birmingham City.

Leeds could copy Gelhardt plan by sending Sonny Perkins to Sunderland

Sunderland already took another attacker, Joe Gelhardt, on loan from Leeds for the second half of the season just gone. He went on to score three goals in 18 Championship appearances for his temporary club.

It led to Tony Mowbray admitting he would be interested in keeping Gelhardt – who coincidentally was also of interest to Blackburn before his loan move to Sunderland – on a longer-term basis at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats reached the play-offs by finishing one place above Blackburn and, just like Leeds are aiming for promotion and an immediate return to the Premier League, both will be ambitious to be in that kind of territory again next season.

Birmingham, on the other hand, came in the bottom half of the table, but staying up was an achievement for them. Indeed, it was a season of progress at St. Andrew’s.

Blackburn, incidentally, are losing their main striker, Ben Brereton Diaz, at the end of his contract this week.

Only time will tell which club is able to win the race for the loan capture of Perkins, who remains under contract in West Yorkshire until 2025.