Report: Harvey Barnes picked Leeds squad number before West Brom move

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West Bromwich Albion forward Harvey Barnes reportedly came desperately close to joining Leeds United in the summer.

Harvey Barnes has been one of the Championship’s biggest revelations this season, with his form for West Brom helping Darren Moore’s men establish themselves as the most lethal team in the division. But it appears that he came ridiculously close to joining another team currently in the promotion picture in the summer.

According to the Express and Star, the attacking midfielder was in talks with Leeds United about a potential loan move from Leicester City ahead of Marcelo Bielsa’s first season at Elland Road.

In fact, the Barnes deal was so far down the line that the youngster had even selected his shirt number with the Whites before ultimately deciding to head to The Hawthorns, according to the Express and Star.

West Brom will be delighted that Barnes did decide to join them rather than complete his move to Leeds. The 20-year-old has scored five goals and provided two assists in the league and has formed a brilliant understanding with Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle.

Leeds are not exactly suffering without Barnes, but they may look at his current form as a reason to kick themselves for not getting a deal across the line when they had a golden opportunity.

Bielsa’s men are only one place below the Baggies in the Championship and are also playing some seriously exciting football going forward – they are second highest scorers in the league behind West Brom.

But fans would be forgiven for feeling that they would be better off had they managed to sign Barnes. While the early season form of Gjanni Alioski, Samuel Saiz and Pablo Hernandez would have made it difficult to see him making an immediate impact, he could have potentially been an incredibly important player in recent weeks with Hernandez out injured and Saiz and Alioski probably not quite as impressive as they had been.