This season, Leeds United have the tough task of surviving in the Premier League as a newly promoted side. It has not been done in the previous two campaigns, with all six sides coming up from the Championship going straight back down.
Of course, the Whites are back in the top flight for the first time since 2022/23. The previous season, they stayed up by the skin of their teeth, largely thanks to their iconic winger Raphinha.
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Former Leeds forward Raphinha.
His penalty away to Brentford on the final day of the season helped them to a 2-1 win to keep them in the Premier League.
Daniel Farke won’t have the Brazilian at his disposal this season, but Leeds are linked with another exciting attacker.
Leeds' plans after signing Noah Okafor
It has been a busy summer already for Leeds, with nine new faces through the door, the latest of which has seen Noah Okafor arrive for a reported figure of £17m.
However, it does not seem like their transfer dealings will stop there.
According to a report from Leeds Live, the Whites have a ‘hope of hijacking’ Crystal Palace’s deal to sign Bilal El Khannouss from Leicester City. He is a player Leeds have already held talks to sign this summer.
Bilal-El-Khannouss
It seemed like the deal was off for Farke’s side, with El Khannouss choosing to go to Selhurst Park. Yet, Oliver Glasner’s side are not ‘fully committed’ to the move and have ‘temporarily halted’ talks, which could give Leeds a chance to pull the deal off.
If so, they’d surely have to match the £32m fee Palace are set to pay the Foxes.
Why El Khannouss would be a good signing
Without doubt, Leeds and the other promoted sides this season have a bit of a mountain to climb in order to stay in the Premier League.
Yet, signing a “magician” like the Moroccan star, as football scout Antonio Mango called him, would go a long way to helping stay in the division.
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Despite a tough year for Leicester in 2024/25, El Khannouss was one of their standout players.
In 37 games across all competitions, he scored three goals and assisted six. This season, he has started on fire, with two assists in the Championship in as many games.
As well as impressing in the Premier League, the 21-year-old has also shone for Morocco. He starred in their third-place finish at the 2024 Olympic Games, scoring and assisting three times and creating ten chances along the way, as per Sofascore.
Well, just from those numbers, it is easy to see how El Khannouss could be Leeds’ most exciting signing since Raphinha.
Ex-teammates at Elland Road have waxed lyrical about the Brazilian, too, with Dan James calling him a “magician”, exactly the way Mango described the potential new Leeds signing.
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His time for the Yorkshire outfit was short but sweet. The now-Barcelona forward, who shone last season under Hansi Flick, played 67 games in that famous white shirt.
In that time, he scored 17 times and assisted 12, with the most famous strike surely that final-day penalty at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Leeds fans would love for the Moroccan star to have the same impact as Raphinha in their survival campaign of 2021/22.
That season, the Brazilian averaged 2.01 key passes and 2.75 progressive carries each game. In comparison, last term for the Foxes, El Khannouss played an average of 1.74 key passes and averaged 3.02 progressive carries per 90 minutes.
El Khannouss vs Raphinha key stats
Stat (per 90)
Key passes
Progressive passes
Goal-creating actions
Progressive carries
Ball recoveries
Stats from FBref
It is easy to see why El Kahnnouss would be Leeds’ best signing since Raphinha. Not only does he have similar creative numbers to the Brazilian, but he has also been given similar high praise in his short career so far.
Leicester City's Bilal El Khannouss
Leicester City's Bilal El Khannouss
For a fee in the region of £32m, the Moroccan star could revolutionise this Leeds team and bring back some of the magic Raphinha added at Elland Road.