Leeds United were linked to centre-back Frederico Venancio earlier this week.
Leeds United may need to replace Kyle Bartley
Leeds United suffered a blow yesterday when Swansea City boss Paul Clement declared his intention to keep Kyle Bartley at the club.
Bartley has had a successful season at the Championship club and Leeds hoped to sign him permanently. Clement told Wales Online that Bartley is not going anywhere and he is looking forward to working with him.
Now Leeds are likely to need a new centre-back, and it is just as well there is one already on their radar.
Frederico Venancio (L) is an option for Leeds
The Sun reported this week that Leeds are eyeing Portuguese centre-back Frederico Venancio, who captains Vitoria Setubal.
Setubal are in 12th place out of 18 teams in Portugal’s top flight and Venancio is 24-years-old.
He is already captaining the club and could be available at a bargain price, with transfermarkt reporting his valuation to be two million Euros (£1.7m).
Kyle Bartley has been a big success at Leeds United
With Kyle Bartley and Pontus Jansson clear first choice at Leeds, the links to Venancio didn’t quite add up previously with the defender set to enter the prime of his career and being a natural leader, there would have been little sense in adding him in to sit on the bench.
Now with a spot needing to be filled, former Portugal under-21 international Venancio could become a bigger priority for Leeds, although rivals Derby County and Reading are also interested.
Leeds have the Championship experience of Liam Cooper on hand already, and Venancio is a potential bargain and shrewd addition for Garry Monk to kick off his summer spending if Swansea City continue to stand firm over Kyle Bartley.
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