It’s not every day we find out that Leeds have been scouting in France, but @scoutsattending, who are normally on the ball about this kind of stuff, claim a representative of the Championship club watched three games over the past few days.
The first was Bordeaux-Strasbourg at the weekend, followed by Toulouse-Caen, with the latest match viewed being Bordeaux-Toulouse in the Coupe de La Ligue.
Simple logic suggests Leeds are interested in a player at either Bordeaux or Toulouse, but who remains a bit of a mystery.
The potential need for a new goalkeeper at Elland Road was our first guess, but the options on display aren’t exactly available to the Championship club.
Toulouse’s Alban Lafont is destined for great things, and it seems unlikely he would go to England’s second-tier when some of the bigger clubs in Europe are all keeping an eye on him.
As for Bordeaux’s Benoit Costil, the goalkeeper has only recently arrived from Rennes, suggesting a move anytime soon away from the south of France isn’t on the cards.
With the Pierre-Michel Lasogga transfer not exactly working out as planned, perhaps a new striker was being looked at, but even then, the options in that department aren’t the best.
On the other side, the selection at Bordeaux is also slim, with both Alexandre Mendy and Nicolas de Préville arriving in the summer and Gaetan Laborde injured since September.
If Leeds were after a winger, however, then there’s choices aplenty, although the likes of Malcom and Francois Kamano will probably end up directly in the Premier League if they move to England.
Enter Max Gradel, a name Elland Road knows oh so well, currently on loan at Toulouse from Bournemouth in search of more time on the pitch.
Disappointing when he first arrived, the 30-year-old has seen his form improve over the past few games, and the forward has been key to the Ligue 1 side’s two recent wins, scoring a penalty in both.
Under contract at the Premier League club until 2020, there’s every chance Gradel could be let go for cheap in the summer, which is where Leeds United could step in.
Finally, there’s the left-back slot, currently occupied by Gaetano Berardi.
The loan of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has yet to prove useful, and Maxime Poundjé could end up being an option for Leeds.
Already courted by Fulham over the summer, the 25-year-old turned down the chance to move to the Championship, but his lack of game time, making his first appearance of the season on Tuesday night, could lead him to look elsewhere at some stage.
We’ll have to wait and see who, if anyone, ends up being mentioned as a target in the near future, but Gradel and Poundjé seem like easy deals for Leeds to pull off over the next few months.
