Leeds United want Charles De Ketelaere and Jesse March claims the deal isn’t completely off – but the Whites don’t think he will be joining.
The Whites have sold star winger Raphinha to Barcelona and now have plenty of money to spend in the transfer market.
With another winger already landed in Luis Sinisterra, Leeds can now focus on signing a new striker to support Patrick Bamford.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Arnaud Kalimuendo is a target but he seems to be behind De Ketelaere in Leeds’ pecking order when it comes to new signings.
Leeds United want Charles De Ketelaere
The top target has been De Ketelaere, who isn’t a centre forward but rather a Swiss army knife in the final third.
The Club Brugge star can pretty much play anywhere; up front, off the striker, central midfield, out wide – it doesn’t matter to De Ketelaere.
De Ketelaere, 21, is a huge figure at 6ft 3in tall but has impressive pace and dribbling ability in tight areas, whilst the way he can drive forward with the ball is reminiscent of Kevin De Bruyne.
Leeds have been hoping to get a deal done for weeks now and have a £30million offer on the table according to Fabrizio Romano.
The problem for Leeds is that AC Milan are also chasing De Ketelaere – and they appear to be his priority.
The Serie A champions can offer Champions League football and Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara have travelled to Belgium today to try and wrap the deal up.
Leeds boss Jesse Marsch has now commented on the situation, admitting to the Yorkshire Evening Post that the Whites want De Ketelaere and that the situation isn’t finished just yet.
Until De Ketelaere actually joins Milan, Leeds will seemingly hold a glimmer of hope that a deal can be done – but Marsch added that Leeds are looking at other targets as the Belgian may well be heading elsewhere this summer.
“The striker one, I think it’s been well documented that De Ketelaere was a goal of ours and it’s not finished yet with him,” said Marsch.
“But we’ve also moved on to some other targets trying to figure out which would be the best fit if in the end, which is what we believe, he will not be available,” he added.
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