Leeds have been linked with Aston Villa’s Ross McCormack following Chris Wood to Burnley speculation.
Clarets manager Sean Dyche is determined to push through a deal for the 25-year-old and despite also looking at Napoli’s Duvan Zapata and Nicolas de Proville of Lille, he would prefer to sign Wood.
Chris Wood of Leeds United celebrates scoring his second goal with Kalvin Phillips.
Dyche is searching for a replacement upfront for Andre Gray following his £18.5m (BBC) move to Watford.
Leeds are looking at ways to replace the New Zealand international in attack should he leave, with Hamburg forward Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Aston Villa’s Ross McCormack both on the wish-list – with both expected to be loan deals.
Yet replacing Wood – who top-scored in the Championship last season with 27 goals – with McCormack would be a massive step backwards for the Whites and could massively hamper their promotion ambitions.
The 30-year-old was previously a hit at the Yorkshire club, scoring 58 times in 157 appearances during four years at Elland Road, but much has changed since then and the attacker has not found much success on the pitch for more than 12 months now.
Considered surplus to requirements at Villa, McCormack endured an unsuccessful loan spell at Nottingham Forest towards the end of 2016/17 when he scored just once in seven games.
Wood is five years younger and is finally finding the consistent form that the talent he showed in glimpses as a youngster, whereas his Scottish counterpart is a blast from the past that should remain just that – in the past.
Ross McCormack of Aston Villa in action.
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