Manor Solomon was an integral part of Leeds United's unbelievable promotion heroics last season in the Championship.
By the close of the season, the tricky 26-year-old winger would be held in very high esteem by Whites supporters everywhere, with a blistering ten goals and 12 assists tallied up by the number 14 across 39 league games helping to clinch the title for Daniel Farke's champions.
Unfortunately, Solomon is yet to return to Elland Road after the loan move expired, as the promotion hero attempts to settle back into Premier League life at Tottenham Hotspur under new boss Thomas Frank.
That isn't to say Leeds haven't tried to land an explosive winger in the same vein as the skilful Spurs attacker, as another target down the flanks now appears on Farke's shopping list this summer.
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Leeds keeping tabs on £4m star
There are still a couple of weeks before the transfer window slams shut, meaning not all hope will be completely extinguished just yet regarding Solomon triumphantly moving back to West Yorkshire for good.
However, a summer move for Igor Paixao is certainly dead in the water, as the former Feyenoord man opted to join Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille right at the start of the month, despite Leeds' insistent advances.
Feyenoord's Igor Paixao in action with AC Milan's Kyle Walker
The Brazilian would have cost the Whites a significant £30m to land, with a far cheaper target now reportedly in their sights to boost their options on the left wing.
As per Italian outlet Tutto Mercato Web, Farke and Co. are keeping tabs on Fiorentina attacker Riccardo Sottil as an alternative name to add strength down the left channel, but will face competition from Italian outfits Torino and Sassuolo for his signature.
Riccardo-Sottil
Only valued at around the £4m mark, according to Football Transfers, this could well be a golden, cost-effective move to make on Leeds' end, especially if Farke can rework his Solomon magic on Sottil.
Why Sottil can become Farke's next Solomon
After all, the reserve Spurs attacker was in dire need of his spirits being lifted when he arrived in West Yorkshire last summer.
Solomon was just fresh off a campaign that was derailed by serious injury, but the former Fulham forward had shown off enough flashes of quality at Spurs - with two assists from six clashes in North London - to be considered a worthwhile risk to go after.
Leeds will deem a move for the £4m-rated Italian to also be a gamble worth exploring, even as he potentially enters into the English game off a similarly disruptive loan stint at AC Milan, which saw Sottil offer up zero goals or assists from eight appearances at the San Siro.
Still, the Turin-born attacker has shown off his class before for Fiorentina, which is what Leeds will be hanging onto, knowing that Solomon came good under Farke's tutelage down Sottil's exact same left flank.
Sottil's numbers for Fiorentina by season
Season
24/25
23/24
22/23
21/22
19/20
Sourced by Transfermarkt
Sottil's electric start to the 2024/25 season is what must have caught the Rossoneri's eye, as the 26-year-old powered home five goals and four assists from just 25 appearances in Florence. In total, away from that standout campaign, Sottil also stands on a hefty 15 goals and 15 assists playing for his boyhood club.
If the former 12-time Italy U21 international can just brush his bruising experience in Milan to one side, he could be transformed into Leeds' second coming of Solomon, with Sottil also a capable performer down the right channel, on top of further bolstering Farke's depleted number ten ranks if needed.
Riccardo-Sottil-1
It will just require some patience at Elland Road as Sottil gets up to speed with what is expected of him.
But, that patience could be justly rewarded by the Fiorentina number seven playing an eventual important role in Leeds beating the drop, having been dubbed a future talent with "room to grow" by ex-Serie A great Zlatan Ibrahimovic last season.