It was a week ago that Leeds United were included in the race to sign Sporting winger Gonzalo Plata.
Since Real Valladolid, the club who had him on loan last season, seem to be struggling to trigger the €10m buying option they haver over him, it was said the Elland Road side could ‘advance’ for a deal with the Lions this summer.
It turns out that Sporting now have a reason to worry about this sale. That’s because Plata was injured during international duty at the weekend, and following the diagnosis of an ankle issue, he could be sidelined for as long as eight weeks.
That will stop him from starting preseason for the Lions or any other club, and as written by newspaper O Jogo, the setback ‘complicates’ his sale.
O Jogo is now another outlet to talk about Leeds United interest. They claim Plata is on the Whites’ radar, as they have him as an option to replace Raphinha in case of the Brazilian’s departure this summer.
Since Sporting only have 50% of the Ecuadorian’s sale rights, that’s the main reason why they don’t want to give big discounts for his transfer. However, as they also sound interested in letting him go, perhaps this injury will convince them to make the transfer easier.
