Leeds United are looking to bring former Fulham and Chelsea man Ola Aina back to the Premier League from Serie A outfit Torino in the January transfer window, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.
While the likes of Joachim Andersen, Tosin Adarabioyo and Alphonse Areola emerged from the wreckage of another disastrous top-flight campaign at Craven Cottage with their reputations enhanced, the same cannot really be said of Aina.
The £9 million Nigeria international joined Fulham on loan in the summer of 2020.
But, despite making 31 Premier League appearances under Scott Parker, it came as no surprise when The Cottagers decided against triggering the option-to-buy clause in Aina’s contract.
Although it must be said that a second relegation in three years meant that his hefty price-tag probably would have been beyond the West London outfit anyway.
What is certain is that Aina hardly set the world alight in Fulham colours.
His use of the ball, especially in attacking areas, was consistently underwhelming, overhit crosses ballooning from one side of the pitch to the other quickly becoming something of an unfortunate trademark of Aina’s short-lived Craven Cottage career.
So reports suggesting that the Chelsea academy graduate could return to England with Leeds United will raise an eyebrow or two – particularly among those residing in an SW6 postcode.
Can Ola Aina silence the doubters at Leeds?
Aina, it must be said, has impressed in his 16 Serie A appearances since returning to Turin last summer, his performances attracting the admiration of Marcelo Bielsa’s relegation-threatened, injury-hit Leeds side.
The Whites won just three of the nine Premier League games in which Luke Ayling, the club’s first-choice right-back, missed with a knee problem earlier this season.
Aina, though he arguably lacks Ayling’s technique in the final third, would provide a more natural alternative than the versatile Jamie Shackleton or Bielsa’s man-for-all-seasons-and-all-positions Stuart Dallas.
In addition to Aina, Leeds are reportedly eyeing up a pair of bargain swoops from the Championship. Reading’s John Swift and Millwall’s Jed Wallace will both become free-agents when the season ends.
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