Tyler Roberts’ contract situation shows how highly Leeds must rate forward after making £4m bid

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Leeds United have reportedly made a £4 million bid for West Bromwich Albion forward Tyler Roberts.

After a fairly uneventful start to the January transfer window, it appears that Leeds are now determined to get the chequebook out and make some substantial signings before the deadline.

After a couple of deals that the Whites are only set to really benefit from in the future, the Championship play-off chasers seemed to step up their business with the acquisition of Laurens De Bock and the £4.5 million signing of Adam Forshaw – fee reported by the club’s official website.

Despite the greater intent, it may have come as a major surprise to a number of the Elland Road faithful when The Sun reported earlier this week that the club had seen a £4 million bid for Tyler Roberts rejected by West Brom.

Forshaw became one of the club’s more expensive signings since the turn of the Millennium, and he is a player who brings a wealth of Championship experience with him, and he featured regularly during Middlesbrough’s season in the top flight last year.

Roberts on the other hand – who would have cost only a fraction less had the Baggies accepted Leeds’ bid – is an unproven talent with virtually no experience in the top two tiers in England.

He has certainly been impressing with Walsall in League One this season, but it is no doubt a massive statement from Leeds regarding how highly they rate the teenager given his contract situation at The Hawthorns.

The Sun reports that his current deal with the Baggies expires in the summer – though the report also states that West Brom are desperate to keep him – so given that fact, and his lack of experience at any level higher than the third tier, you would have perhaps thought that you would do well to find a team willing to offer £4 million to sign him when they have a chance of getting him for a fraction of that amount this summer.

And when you factor in that that bid has come from a club like Leeds who have not exactly splashed the cash on their playing squad by any means since their dramatic financial implosion more than a decade ago – even after Andrea Radrizzani’s arrival – the fact that they are now willing to make such a substantial bid for Roberts surely says an incredible amount regarding how good the Whites must believe the forward could become in the future.