While Leeds United aren’t exactly doing badly in the Premier League following their promotion last season, there’s always room for improvement.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side currently sit 11th in the league after 26 games, two points behind Arsenal, having won 11 games, drawn two and lost 13.
Most of those losses have come from a defence, as solid as it can be, often capable of being leaky, such is the attacking style the Argentine manager likes to employ.
The likes of Liam Cooper, Robin Koch (before his injury) and Pascal Struijk have been key members of Bielsa’s plans, while summer signing Diego Llorente has only been called up due to emergencies, but Leeds could bolster the area even more with Nicolas N’Koulou.
The stories are circulating around Italy, and with the Cameroonian’s contract coming to an end in June, he represents a really viable option.
This is emphasised once more by Torino Granata, who explain how Leicester’s and Napoli’s reported interest in Struijk could help everyone in a one in, one out scenario.
With Bielsa wanting to improve now, the idea of letting the former Netherlands U17 international go at a profit and signing a former pupil of his (during their time at Marseille) for free, bringing added experience in the process, could be one worth exploring.
They state ‘to aspire to a place in the sun in the top seven of the Premier League, Leeds therefore seem willing to sacrifice perspective and aim for the immediate’.
This entire deal would be ‘propitiated by the condition’ of N’Koulou being on a free, but with a renewal an ‘unlikely hypothesis’, that shouldn’t be an issue.
