Leeds almost signed defender when he was 18, now he could cost as much as £80m

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Leeds United have had plenty of defensive problems this season, but perhaps their issues wouldn’t be so noticeable if they’d managed to land one of their top targets back in 2020.

Cast your mind back to Leeds’ first post-promotion transfer window, and you’ll remember that despite spending £100m on new signings, the biggest stories were around three players that never joined.

Rodrigo De Paul and Michael Cuisance were both strongly linked, with the latter failing a medical at Leeds, but perhaps the biggest missed opportunity was surrounding Josko Gvardiol.

In the summer of 2020, Leeds were continuously linked with Gvardiol, and the player himself even admitted that he could have gone to Elland Road.

“I had an agreement with agent Maran Sisic to introduce me to the details when something is concrete and official, and Leeds was,” said Gvardiol. “I am aware of the size of that club, the English league and the offer that has arrived, but from the beginning I had some thoughts of my own – my game development comes first.”

Eventually, the defender, who was only 18 years old at the time, ended up joining RB Leipzig.

Unfortunately for Leeds, Gvardiol has gone on to cement himself as a bit of a superstar over in Germany.

He’s caught the eye of both Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle, and he’s played a key role in Leipzig’s run to the Europa League semi-finals.

While Leeds thought they could land Gvardiol for £20m in 2020 – which is a lot of money for a teenager, his value has since skyrocketed.

According to CIES’ research, he’s the most valuable U23 defender on the planet – valued at £96m, while The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke thinks that Spurs may have to pay as much as £80m for the centre-back.

“Gvardiol is really highly rated at Leipzig, so much so that if Tottenham were to get him I think it would be comfortably the biggest fee Tottenham have ever paid. Tottenham paid £55 million for Tanguy Ndombele in 2019, it’s possible that Gvardiol would be as much as £70 or £80 million,” Pitt-Brooke said on The View from The Lane Podcast.

Leeds have pulled off some transfer coups in their time, but it seems as though they missed out on a truly elite talent when Gvardiol snubbed Leeds two years ago.