Ahead of the weekend, Leeds United were reportedly in talks to sign James Justin from Leicester City but Leicester City boss Marti Cifuentes has now detailed a potential blow.
LeedsUnited.News broke the news that Leeds wanted to sign James Justin from Leicester earlier this month and now, that Leeds have intensified that interest in Justin into advanced talks for the defender.
Despite that, Justin was named captain and started Leicester’s away game against Preston on Saturday as Marti Cifuentes and Justin risked scuppering a deal that would see the one-time England man join Leeds.
That has now come to fruition, with Leicester suffering a 2-1 defeat at Deepdale – a place Leeds fans will know is a tough place to go. Justin limped off on 77 minutes and was replaced by Hamza Choudhury.
Miluton Osmajic, the man who got Illan Meslier sent off at Deepdale during Daniel Farke’s first season as Leeds manager, netted a late winner for Preston after Jeremy Monga cancelled out Alfie Devine’s opener.
James Justin ahead of Leicester's clash against Preston.
Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images
Marti Cifuentes details extent of James Justin injury amid talks
Leeds are hopeful of striking a £6m deal for Justin, a move which would provide cover on both sides of the defence. It is also likely that a move would see Leeds sanction the exit of Isaac Schmidt to Germany.
Speaking to Leicestershire Live after the game, Foxes manager Marti Cifuentes confirmed that Justin had picked up a knock and while he hinted it was just a “kick”, he is unsure of the diagnosis at this stage.
“JJ unfortunately got a kick on the leg. The medical team is assessing. I don’t know exactly what the outcome is. Hopefully it’s not an injury, or a big injury at least,” Cifuentes said, about Justin’s injury.
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Leicestershire Live continued by saying that Leeds have been in ‘advanced talks’ to sign Justin prior to the game but any extensive injury could force Adam Underwood to ‘pull out’ of a deal for the defender.
Marti Cifuentes during Leicester's defeat against Preston.
Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images
Another one potentially bites the dust for Leeds and Underwood
It has been a summer of Leeds missing out on key targets. Jaka Bijol, Lucas Perri, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff were clearly key targets. Leeds eyed Sebastiaan Bornauw from January.
But Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s arrival is clearly a reaction to Leeds failing to get Rodrigo Muniz or any of their other key targets. Igor Paixao has chosen Marseille while Muniz scored on Saturday for Fulham.
There are likely to be countless of other top targets that Underwood and Leeds have missed out on and Justin’s injury could mean another is added to the list. Hopefully, it is just a minor impact injury for him.