Leeds quoted colossal fee to re-sign Jack Clarke as move for Austria star explodes into life

Leeds United have been told they will have to pay the biggest fee ever spent by a Championship club if they are to re-sign Jack Clarke from Sunderland this summer, though the Whites have made progress on a deal for a new midfielder.

It’s been a hugely difficult transfer window for Leeds, who missed out on promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking last season and having been pipped for automatic promotion and then having lost in the play-off final as well. And with Daniel Farke’s side facing a second season back among the second tier, the Whites have been forced to sit back and watch as a number of their leading lights have all departed from Elland Road over an extremely painful summer.

The exodus was started by Archie Gray, who has allowed to leave for Tottenham in a £40m deal, before the sale of Glen Kamara (€10m, to Rennes) and Crysencio Summerville (for an initial £25m, to West Ham) also went through. But arguably the most painful  -and possibly unexpected – of the lot was to come when last week it emerged that Brighton had triggered the £40m clause in Georginio Rutter’s deal with hours to spare.

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A move to take the Frenchman to Brighton has not quite been finalised at the time of writing but is on course to go through in the coming days, TEAMtalk understands.

The exit of the four, coupled with a few other sales of players that date back from their time in the Premier League, means there is not a club in Europe who have generated more transfer income than Leeds United this summer.

Leeds transfers: Championship record fee quoted by Sunderland for Clarke

However, the flip side of that is that Leeds have now lost their spark and pizzazz and the difference-makers who made it look appear that the Whites were certainties for promotion at the second time of asking.

A dour and workmanlike 0-0 draw at West Brom on Saturday lunchtime perhaps best summed up where Leeds now are as a club without their leading lights.

After the game, a grizzled Farke admitted he “wants at least four new signing” in at Leeds before the window closes on Friday August 30. But with time against them, it remains to be seen just how many of those the Whites and their owners, 49ers Enterprises, get through the door.

One man persistently linked with a return to Leeds this summer is Sunderland star Clarke and TEAMtalk can confirm the 23-year-old is a player of interest to the Whites this summer.

The winger has transformed into one of the Championship’s best players during his time on Wearside, scoring 15 goals and adding four assists last season.

However, in an effort to crush Leeds’ hopes of a reunion, the Black Cats are understood to have slapped a huge £25m fee on the winger’s head. And with Sunderland, who on Sunday beat Leeds’ next opponents, Sheffield Wednesday 4-0, in no mood to compromise or negotiate on the price, they may well have done enough to dissuade their rivals from making a move.

Indeed, such a fee would represent the biggest signing ever made by a Championship club, with the current record currently standing at the €18m (£15.3m) Burnley invested into the capture of Mike Tresor from Genk earlier this summer. The twice-capped Belgium international initially joined the Clarets on a season-long loan last summer.

Leeds make progress on midfielder deal

Whether Leeds topple that for Clarke, though, certainly looks debatable and it seems the move may prove a difficult one for the Whites to pull off before the window closes and despite reports the winger has made it clear he would welcome the chance to return to Elland Road.

Sunderland‘s stance is partly owing to the fact that Tottenham have a sizeable sell-on clause as part of the deal that took Clarke to the Stadium of Light in this first place; this is believed to be as high as 40%.

However, some good news for Leeds on the transfer front has been reported from Germany with the Whites understood to be making progress on a deal for Cologne midfielder Dejan Ljubicic.

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The Whites have already seen an offer worth €4m (£3.4m) rejected by the Bundesliga 2 club for the Austria international earlier this summer.

Now amid claims Leeds have made a fresh move for his services, it’s reported by Kicker that the player has now confirmed his wish to his side that he wants to make the move to West Yorkshire.

The 26-year-old midfielder has just a year left on his £23,000 a week deal – and with no sign of an extension being agreed, it could leave the cash-strapped side with little choice but to negotiate his sale.

Cologne now know that unless they agree his sale in the coming days, they will be at risk of losing him for nothing in the January window – a risk they are not understandably willing to take and a situation that could yet play into Leeds’ hands.