According to The Scottish Mail (print edition, page 156, August 16, 2020), Leeds United were interested in signing Shane Duffy in the summer transfer window before he moved to Celtic, as covered by HITC Sport at the time.
Leeds, who had just won promotion to the Premier League, were looking for an established central defender and had Duffy on their radar, according to the report.
The Whites eventually signed Robin Koch from Freiburg, and although the Germany international central defender has had a mixed start to life at Elland Road, Duffy has been very disappointing for Celtic following a loan move from Brighton and Hove Albion.
The 28-year-old centre-back has failed to play well for the Hoops, as he has struggled to play out from the back and has been caught out defensively.
The former Everton man had bad games against Rangers, AC Milan and Aberdeen, and he was part of the back-line that shipped in four goals against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
The way Duffy was turned in for one of Sparta’s goals was something he will want to forget, and he also failed to pass the ball well from defence.
According to WhoScored, the centre-back had a pass accuracy of 80.4%, won three headers, took 67 touches, made two tackles, one interception and four clearances, and put in one cross.
The Daily Record described the defender’s performance on Thursday evening as a ‘nightmare’, pointing out that ‘he was caught at a corner, ended up turned for the second and made a mess of the third, at sea for the fourth’, and added that he ‘looks out of form and devoid of confidence’.
Duffy is a very good central defender with a lot of experience, but the 28-year-old is not having the best of times at Celtic.
Based on his performances for the Hoops so far this season, Leeds fans will feel relieved that they did not sign Duffy.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
