Leeds United had a number of successes and a few failures in the last summer transfer window. Despite adding ten new players to their squad for a combined fee of more than £100m, the club did miss out on a few high-profile targets during the off-season.
The deadline day fiasco that led to Leeds missing out on Harry Wilson, when Fulham changed their mind about selling him just minutes before the end of the window, has dominated headlines over the last few days. However, there were a few players who snubbed interest from Elland Road.
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Towards the end of July, Leeds were involved in a very public pursuit of Brazilian winger Igor Paixao. They thought they had a deal in place, only for the Brazilian winger to opt for Champions League football with Marseille, rather than move to Elland Road.
Leeds also chased Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz all summer, only for the Cottagers to hold on to him, but early in the window, Leeds did miss out on a couple of players who joined Premier League rivals.
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Habib Diarra is set to miss the Leeds United clash this season, after snubbing them in the summer
Leeds pushed hard to sign the 21-year-old Senegalese midfielder, and tabled bids to sign him from Strasbourg early in the summer transfer window.
He was identified as one of their top targets, but Sunderland hijacked the move and paid a fee worth £30m to beat Leeds to his signature.
It was a high-profile miss, and Diarra has made a good start to the season at Sunderland, who have won two of their opening three Premier League games.
Sunderland are scheduled to take on Leeds towards the end of the year, but Diarra will likely miss that game at the Stadium of Light.
The 21-year-old midfielder will be on international duty for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations, which begins on December 21st.
He is going to miss out on showing Leeds what they missed out on when Sunderland beat them to his signature.
However, Leeds went on to sign Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach, and they have emerged as big players early in the season.
Stach is already making huge strides in English football. He is only behind Bruno Fernandes in the leaderboard for chances created in the Premier League.
Leeds are confident that they got a better player than Diarra in the German midfielder.
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