Simon Grayson comments on Leeds targets Barry Douglas and Matej Vydra

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Leeds United have been heavily linked with both Matej Vydra and Barry Douglas this summer.

Simon Grayson has told Sky Sports (broadcast on Sky Sports News; 13:21; 27/07) that Matej Vydra and Barry Douglas are both the kind of players that Leeds need to be targeting if they hope to get promoted out of the Championship this season.

It has been a quiet start to the summer for the Whites on the transfer front. Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment has been followed by two loan signings, with Lewis Baker and Jamal Blackman both arriving from Chelsea.

It appears with little more than a week to go before they start the new season against Stoke City that they are now stepping up their activity in the market. Sky Sports reports that Wolves defender Douglas is set for a medical at Elland Road after a fee was agreed, while The Sun suggested that Vydra may be closing in on an £11 million move from Derby.

And Grayson – who oversaw Leeds’ last promotion as well as their joint-highest finish in the second tier since their return from League One – insisted that both men would be excellent additions to Bielsa’s squad.

“They’ve been linked with a few players and I think with the new manager coming in, he wouldn’t have come to Leeds United if he hadn’t been given assurances that there’s going to be some money to spend on some good quality players,” he told Sky Sports (broadcast on Sky Sports News; 13:21; 27/07).

“Starting with Barry Douglas who last year was an exceptional player for Wolverhampton Wanderers and if they sign him, he’ll be a good addition. And Vydra, again, very established Championship player, the type of players that Leeds United need to try and get back to the Premiership.”

As Grayson alluded to, Douglas was part of the Wolves side that clinched the second tier title last season. No player provided more assists than the 14 that the Scotsman contributed last season in his first, and potentially only, year at Molineux.

And it is a similar story with Vydra, with the Czech Republic international finishing the campaign as the division’s leading goalscorer with 21 strikes. If Leeds are able to add the pair, then it seems more than likely that there will be plenty more people who believe Bielsa’s side to be genuine promotion contenders for this coming season.