Leeds face West Brom at the Hawthorns on Saturday evening.
Harvey Barnes has turned out to be one of the signings of the summer at West Bromwich Albion this summer, with FourFourTwo ranking him as the best Championship player so far – but it could have been so different.
Barnes, 20, has shone for Darren Moore’s Baggies this season, scoring five goals and creating four assists as well as whipping up a stir on social media with all of his goals easy on the eye.
However, the Express & Star have claimed that Leicester City loanee Barnes could have joined Championship promotion rivals Leeds United – and came within inches of doing so after he had picked a shirt number at Elland Road.
Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds have taken the Championship by the scruff of the neck this year, sitting pretty at the top with 30 points from 16 games – losing only twice to Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City.
Adding Barnes into that side would have surely given the Whites all the tools they needed to go on and gain promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since their relegation in 2004.
But instead, Barnes joined West Brom from Leicester and has starred for the Baggies since, with FourFourTwo claiming his performances have eclipsed the likes of Pablo Hernandez and Mateusz Klich, who are also in the top 10.
Now, Barnes could could come back to haunt Leeds as the two sides meet in a heavyweight Championship clash on Saturday evening in a match that could prove crucial as to the standings come May next year.
The game will be finely poised between the two sides, but if Barnes scores and downs Leeds, losing out on his signature will be a double blow for Bielsa’s men.
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