Leeds United: No offers received for Leeds full-back Taylor

Leeds United are yet to receive any offers for player-of-the-year Charlie Taylor despite claims that the left-back has held talks with Liverpool and Stoke City.
Charlie TaylorCharlie Taylor
Charlie Taylor

Taylor is rumoured to have spoken to the two Premier League sides ahead of a mooted summer transfer but sources at Elland Road told the YEP that no bids have been submitted and denied that the defender had been involved in authorised negotiations with rival clubs.

Taylor, who claimed United’s player-of-the-year award towards the end of their Championship season, has been scouted by several top-flight teams during the past 12 months and his contractual situation is slowly weakening Leeds’ hold on him.

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The 22-year-old signed a three-year deal in the summer of 2014, a contract handed to him immediately after Massimo Cellino’s takeover of United, but Leeds have not extended that agreement and Taylor is 12 months away from the end of it.

New Leeds head coach Garry Monk promised last week to fight to ensure that the likes of Taylor, Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt – all three of whom are out of contract in 2017 – agree to remain at Elland Road for his first season in charge, saying: “Once I speak and sit down with them and give them a vision of what I’d like to do with them and the team going forward, hopefully that is enough to keep them here.

“I want the players to be happy, see what the future is and be part of it. That’s the key to it.”

Taylor has been a first-team regular at Leeds since the start of 2015 and he played 43 times during the 2015-16 campaign, despite losing six weeks of it to a bout of glandular fever. His performances at left-back earned him both the club’s and the YEP’s player-of-the-year awards.

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Speaking in April, Taylor talked of his desire to win promotion with Leeds and of his frustration at the club’s repeated failures to seriously challenge for a play-off place.

But he insisted that he would sit tight for the 2016-17 season.

“Unless anything drastic happens, I’m sure I’ll be here,” Taylor told the YEP.

“I’m not thinking any other way.

“The dream is still to play in the Premier League with Leeds. I’m not just saying that.”

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Liverpool want a new left-back to compete with Alberto Moreno and Stoke City have been linked with Taylor for several months.

West Bromwich Albion are also taking a strong interest in him and Crystal Palace sent scouts to watch United’s Championship game at Rotherham United in early April.

Taylor will be 23 when his current deals ends, ensuring that Leeds would be entitled to compensation for him if he chooses to leave in a year’s time.

But the club lost right-back Sam Byram – another product of their academy – to West Ham United in a £3.7m deal in January after contract talks between his agent and Cellino broke down, allowing Byram to enter the last 12 months of his agreement.

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Leeds, meanwhile, are still awaiting a decision from young goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell over a new two-year contract.

Peacock-Farrell’s existing deal ends on June 30 and the current offer from Leeds remains on the table unsigned, despite the club anticipating a response from him by the middle of last month.

The 19-year-old’s advisors have asked United for assurances about his role at Elland Road next season and also wanted clarity about the position of head coach, a role Leeds filled with the appointment of Monk last Thursday.

United are without a first-team goalkeeping coach after Richard Hartis left to work with England’s youth-team set-up.

But Monk is expected to bring in a replacement as part of his recruitment this summer.