Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom signed the England Under-20 international for Barnsley last summer.
Paul Heckingbottom wants to reunite with three of his Barnsley signings at Leeds United, according to the Sun on Sunday. But a fourth could also be worth pursuing, especially if Leeds need to replace Pablo Hernandez.
Samuel Saiz aside, Hernandez has been arguably Leeds’ standout performer this season, but is the only senior player out of contract in the summer and could yet be lured away with little United can do to stop it.
The former Spain winger has scored or created 12 of Leeds’ Championship goals this season – which equates to one every 2.83 matches or 196 minutes. Impressive stuff, albeit not quite as impressive as Harvey Barnes’ record at Barnsley earlier in the campaign.
The Leicester City youngster was directly involved in nine of the Tykes’ league goals – one every 2.55 matches or 156 minutes – before being recalled by his parent club in January. And according to Heckingbottom Leeds already know all about him, having ‘targeted’ Barnes during their 2-0 win at Oakwell earlier in the campaign.
With only two FA Cup appearances to speak of for Leicester this season, it’s possible that Barnes could be allowed to leave the King Power Stadium during the summer transfer window – one would think at least on loan.
And it’s reasonable to assume that he could end up at Leeds – perhaps as Pablo’s replacement.
*All stats courtesy of Whoscored.com
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