Leeds United have been linked with a summer move for Fleetwood Town full-back Conor McLaughlin.
Fleetwood Town’s Conor McLaughlin
According to The Sun on Sunday (print edition; June 25th 2017; pg. 59), Leeds are one of the sides who are interested in Fleetwood full-back Conor McLaughlin. But given the state of their current squad, he is arguably a player who should be significantly low down on their list of priority targets.
McLaughlin is undoubtedly an impressive player who could certainly make an impact in the Championship, but the fact is that signing another right-back should not be something Thomas Christiansen is thinking about at this current stage of the window.
Luke Ayling proved to be one of Leeds’ signings of the season this past term, and right-back was generally one of the positions where the Whites looked the strongest, with cult-hero Gaetano Berardi and academy graduate Lewie Coyle also available.
While Charlie Taylor’s situation means that Berardi may be deployed much more often on the left next term, it would still arguably be a bizarre move to target a right-back who has arguably shown little to suggest that he would be anything more than an understudy.
Luke Ayling was exceptional last season while Gaetano Berardi and Lewie Coyle can also operate on the right of the defence
Ayling was tremendous this past season, and while Coyle can still improve, some of his displays certainly suggested that he could have an extremely bright future ahead of him.
Therefore, instead of targeting another right-back, it surely makes a lot more sense for Christiansen to consider bolstering the options at centre-back, left-back, out on the wing and perhaps up front before he thinks about building on the areas where Leeds are already strong in terms of depth.
Thomas Christiansen
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