In July, Leeds United were said to have made an offer for Baghdad Bounedjah.
The claims about the Algerian came from his home country, and Leeds were reported to have made a ‘firm offer’ to Al Sadd. It wasn’t just the club who the Whites were said to have made an approach to, but the striker himself.
At the time it was stated that Lille has also been interested in the player, which provided a Marcelo Bielsa link.
Bounedjah himself was presented as knocking the approach back, not wanting to take a pay cut on what he’d been earning at Al Sadd, but it was pointed out there was still a chance of a deal if further approaches were made.
Nothing happened for the rest of the summer, but ahead of the winter window there have been repeat claims Leeds could return.
Now Algeria’s DZ says Leeds, Leicester, Lille and Marseille are keen on the signing, specifically for the January window.
One of Al Sadd’s leaders, Abdelaziz Ben Hamad, is quoted explaining the club need a ‘win’ from any deal: “On a personal level, I’d refuse that Bounedjah leaves. I hope with all my heart that he will continue the adventure in Al Saad. He is an important player for us.
“I also know that in this time of professionalism, when a player finds a big club according to him, he would like to leave. This is the ambition of every player. However, he must certainly know that Al Saad is a very big club. If Bounedjah finds a big club that wants to recruit him and our team comes out the winner of this transfer, he will be able to leave and on our side, we can replace him with another great striker.”
