Leeds ‘awaiting Liverpool call’ with double Anfield transfer raid tipped and deal for £20m-rated star ‘agreed’

Leeds United are reportedly hoping to receive the double transfer green light from Liverpool as Daniel Farke looks to strengthen his squad in the closing week of the transfer window – with moves for both Calvin Ramsay and a Reds forward in their sights.

The Whites has thrust themselves fully back into the automatic promotion race in recent weeks after winning four straight games, one in the FA Cup, since the turn of the year, including Sunday’s dramatic 2-1 injury-time victory over Preston. And with Leeds now just five points adrift of second-placed Ipswich, they will be looking to cut that gap to a mere two points on Wednesday with a win at home against Norwich.

Despite Leeds’ fine form, they have done so with arguably a weaker squad, certainly defensively, than at any other stage in the season. Indeed, the departure of Luke Ayling to Middlesbrough on loan, and the return to Tottenham of Djed Spence  – the latter of Leeds’ choosing – has left the Whites with a number of shortfalls in their squad. An injury to stand-in skipper Pascal Struijk, while Charlie Cresswell’s desire to leave, has not helped matters.

With that in mind, Farke has made no secret of his desire to strengthen his squad’s options, especially in defence and, more pertinently, in both full-back positions.

The Whites have been linked with a number of options, with Conor Roberts of Burnley, West Ham’s Ben Johnson and Ryan Giles of Luton among those they have looked at.

However, with TEAMtalk revealing one of their Championship rivals are leading the chase for Giles, with competition for Johnson tough and with the Clarets yet to respond to their Roberts’ request, Leeds have been forced to look elsewhere.

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Leeds make contact over Calvin Ramsay signing

Now according to the Daily Mail, Liverpool right-back Ramsay is one of those players Leeds are said to have made an enquiry over.

The Scot was a £4.2m signing for the Reds, signing a five-year deal from Aberdeen, and ironically opting for a move to Merseyside ahead of rival interest from Leeds.

However, the move to Anfield has not gone well with Ramsay limited to just two appearances for Liverpool so far.

And after falling behind talented youngster Conor Bradley in the Reds’ pecking order, Ramsay was allowed to join Preston on a season’s loan. Sadly for the 20-year-old, the move did Deepdale did not have the desired effect either, forcing Liverpool to recall him having made just two appearances for Ryan Lowe’s side.

Now it’s claimed Liverpool do want to send Ramsay out again, with a move to Elland Road one of those options.

The Mail claims Leeds have made contact and registered their interest in taking Ramsay on a temporary deal – and are now just awaiting the call from the Reds to see if they can get the green light to make his signing.

Ramsay isn’t the only Liverpool player Leeds are chasing either with reports on Monday revealing the Whites were also planning an approach to sign Polish forward Mateusz Musialowski.

The 20-year-old moved to Anfield in a summer 2020 move from SMS Lodz in his homeland, signing a first pro deal with the Reds a year later.

Despite being a frequent goalscorer in their Under-23s set-up, Musialowski is yet to make his first-team debut for Liverpool.

And with his contract due to expire in the summer, Liverpool have reportedly cleared the Poland youth international to move on this month.

Leeds closing in on new Willy Gnonto deal

With Leeds cautiously optimistic they can add to their squad in the closing week of the window, the Championship promotion hopefuls have put much of their January focus on squad retention – especially around some of their leading lights.

To that end, Leeds tied down hugely-promising teenager Archie Gray to a lengthy new deal last week, warding off – for now at least  – talk that a £50m move away from Elland Road could be on the cards.

Next up for Leeds is a new deal for Italy winger Wilfried Gnonto, who was strongly linked with Everton over the summer and touted as a target for West Ham last week.

However, it emerged on Monday that Leeds were close to agreeing a new deal to tie Gnonto down to new and improved terms at Elland Road.

And now trusted journalist Ben Jacobs has shed more light on Gnonto’s deal, revealing the 13-times capped Azzurri winger is now “close” to reaching an official agreement on that contract.

Jacobs posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Leeds’ intention had always been to resist any offers for the £20m-rated star, adding he “is understood to have been extremely professional and focused despite new speculation”.

TEAMtalk understands that Leeds plan to extend Gnonto’s current agreement by another year, meaning his new arrangement will carry him through until summer 2028, but reward him with a significant payrise in the process.

Gnonto, 20, joined the West Yorkshire side in a September 2022 move from FC Zurich, costing a bargain €4.6m (£4m). He has since played 50 games for the club, scoring five goals and assisting in five more, though he has just two goal involvements to his name this season.

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