Graham Smyth highlights concern over reported Leeds United transfer target

Leeds United reporters Graham Smyth and Joe Donnohue have been discussing the potential signing of Ben Godfrey and where the Everton star would fit in. Godfrey has been linked with a potential move to Elland Road having struggled for regular game time at Everton.

Daniel Farke and Godfrey share a Norwich City past, and with Leeds needing more depth at the back, Godfrey has been mooted as a solution, given he is a centre-back who can play as a full-back. Godfrey was being tipped for a £15million move to Atalanta this month, but the move broke down due to Serie A rule tweaks.

Leeds are now being tipped to strike a deal, but chief YEP football writer Graham Smyth is concerned about where Godfrey might fit in at Leeds. He said on the latest Inside Elland Road Podcast: "I think business could still be done with a club like Everton, even if there have been some difficulties, shall we say, of an off-field nature.

"I guess the big problem is convincing someone like Ben Godfrey that he is actually going to play if he comes here. Is he going to get ahead of Rodon? Seems very, very unlikely. Is Farke suddenly going to go off the idea of Archie Gray?"

Watch the latest Inside Elland Road episode with Graham Smyth and Joe Donnohue on ShotsTV

Fellow Leeds reporter Joe Donnohue replied: "Theoretically, I can see Godfrey being used as an almost third centre-back on the right and allowing whoever is there on the left, a Firpo or a Byram, to push on, in the way we have seen with Leicester, with Wout Faes playing at left-back, and he is a centre-back, allowing Ricardo Pereira to attack on the other side."

To that proposal, Smyth added: "It's not too dissimilar to what we have seen at times with Leeds this season. We saw early on with Farke-ball was Archie Gray, playing as a central midfielder, was dropping in and receiving the ball at right-back, while Luke Ayling went and played like a second winger up the right, so we have seen that this season."