Sheffield Wednesday want to get rid of Jordan Rhodes and Leeds United’s director of football Victor Orta was spotted chatting after the Championship clash.
If there is one thing Leeds United have badly lacked this season, it is a proven Championship goalscorer.
Chris Wood carried the Whites to the verge of the top six last season with a league best 27 goals but, since his departure, Leeds simply have not had the same attacking threat.
Caleb Ekuban and Pawel Cibicki are yet to score a league goal, Jay-Roy Grot only just scored his first Leeds goal in the 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, while Pierre-Michel Lasogga, despite a decent scoring rate, has struggled at times with the speed of Championship football.
On paper, then, snapping up Jordan Rhodes, with Sheffield Wednesday set to cut their losses on their £10 million record signing, per The Sun (18th March, page 60), would make sense.
It is understood that Wednesday want to get the high-earning Rhodes off their wage bill, and, interestingly, Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta was spotted chatting to the Scottish striker after the 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Orta, it must be noted, signed Rhodes during his spell at Middlesbrough.
Now, Rhodes has been one of the Football League’s most prolific goalscorers of the last decade. Who could forget his record-equalling 36-goal season at League One Huddersfield Town in 2011/12, while his tally of 83 in 159 games for Blackburn is better than one-in-two.
If Leeds had signed Rhodes a few years ago, it would have been a simply brilliant deal. Now, however, perhaps not.
His tally dropped in each of his four seasons at Blackburn while a big-money move to Middlesbrough resulted in just six in 18 Championship games. Since joining Wednesday in January 2017, he has tallied just seven goals in 46 games.
Leeds, then, would be signing Rhodes during the worst period of his career. Typical, the fans might say.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
