A hole has been left in the backline of Daniel Farke’s Leeds United side after Pascal Struijk’s move to Brighton.
Currently, the Whites have no senior left-footed centre-backs at the club. Something the 49ers will surely be keen to address in the summer transfer window.
Graham Smyth has confirmed that Juventus’ Lloyd Kelly is one of the defenders United admire. But at this stage, a potential deal is not being actively pursued.
However, given the latest reports coming out of Italy regarding Kelly, the 49ers could be set to ramp up their pursuit of the 27-year-old.
Juventus reveal asking price for Lloyd Kelly
Over the weekend, reports from TuttoJuve claim that Leeds, along with Everton and Aston Villa, are interested in Kelly.
The defender is expected to leave Turin this summer, with Juventus’ hierarchy “ready to listen to offers”.
The Italian giants are said to ideally want around £30million for Kelly. However, an offer of around £25million could be enough to secure Kelly’s services this summer.
The Englishman has experience playing in the Premier League with Bournemouth and Newcastle. On top of this, the fact that he is left-footed also means he seemingly ticks all the boxes Leeds are looking for.
Ladislav Krejci is another one of the defenders Leeds are said to be monitoring. However, reports suggest that Krejci could cost around £40million.
For this reason, the Whites may choose to sign someone like Kelly instead, who would be far more cost-effective.
Lloyd Kelly would seem to be a realistic signing for Leeds
In my opinion, Kelly would appear to be a realistic signing United could make this summer.
If not Kelly, someone in that £25-30million price range would appear to make a lot of sense.
I just cannot imagine us splashing out the reported £40million it would cost to sign Krejci this summer. I just don’t think we’re in a position yet where we can afford to invest so heavily in one position.
Especially when you consider that a lot of the fanbase was calling out for the club to sign a backup for Struijk before he was sold.
So, with Struijk now at Brighton, ideally we need two left-footed centre-halves.
And, at a bare minimum, a backup centre-half would cost around £10million you would imagine.
So I just cannot see a world where we splash in the region of £50million on just one position. Whether Kelly is the right man for Leeds is a different debate entirely.
However, I do believe the £25-30million region is more realistic when it comes to what we can expect the 49ers to fork out on Struijk’s replacement this summer.
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