Leeds will miss out on Takumi Minamino after Liverpool agreed to sell the attacker to Monaco in a deal worth around £15million.
The Whites have been adding major signings to bolster Jesse Marsch’s squad after narrowly avoiding relegation.
Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen are both on board having worked with Marsch at Red Bull Salzburg, whilst Marc Roca has arrived from Bayern Munich.
Signing two players that Marsch knows very well is a strong strategy from Leeds, and they had been hoping to make it three.
Leeds will miss out on Takumi Minamino
Leeds have been heavily linked with signing Liverpool attacker Minamino in recent times.
Minamino played under Marsch at Red Bull Salzburg and, having been a bit-part player at Liverpool, the chance to play a starring role under him again at Leeds may have been appealing.
90Min claim that Leeds have indeed made an approach to sign Minamino but their hopes of signing him appear to be over.
Foot Mercato reported late on Tuesday that Monaco have struck an agreement to sign Minamino for €15million (£13million) in five instalments.
Sky Sports add that the initial fee is around £13million but add-ons can take the deal to around £15.5million.
Leeds fans may feel that this is a reasonable fee for Minamino and the kind of deal that should have been struck in order to add more attacking firepower for Marsch.
Yet it’s Monaco who have come up with the offer and will now take Minamino to Ligue 1 after two-and-a-half years in the Premier League.
Minamino is 27 now and started just one Premier League game last season.
The Japanese ace played just 179 Premier League minutes in total last term and it’s clear that his prospects weren’t going to improve.
A move away from Liverpool is vital for Minamino’s progress and whilst Leeds seemed to be a strong suitor, he will be saying goodbye to the Premier League this summer.
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