Leeds United eye 'sensational transfer coup' of Newcastle and Tottenham target as Championship rivals face nervous £20m wait
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Leeds United can celebrate New Year’s Eve as the Championship’s leading side but few among Daniel Farke’s squad will be popping champagne come midnight. There is football to focus on and Thursday’s visit of Blackburn Rovers presents an excellent chance to exact swift revenge on that disappointing 1-0 defeat at Ewood Park last month.
Leeds have won their last nine at home and should they make that 10, then a five-point gap will be opened up on Sheffield United who travel to Sunderland later in the evening, while Burnley host struggling Stoke. Farke will hope his side can further cement their status as promotion favourites and as preparations continue, the YEP has rounded up some of the latest stories surrounding the club.
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Leeds have reportedly made contact over a possible move for RC Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov. TBR Football claim Elland Road recruitment chiefs are hoping to pull off a ‘sensational transfer coup’ for the centre-back who is also on the radars of Premier League pair Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the January window.
Twenty-year-old Khusanov has emerged as one of the hottest prospects in Ligue 1 and is playing regularly for a Lens outfit who can boast the joint-best defence in France alongside Paris Saint-Germain. The 18-cap Uzbekistan international is revered for his pace, having recorded the fastest speed in France this season, and top-flight recruitment chiefs believe he is ready-made to slot straight into a Premier League team.
Leeds are rank outsiders in a race for Khusanov and the report claims he is ‘not convinced’ a move into second-tier football would be best for him at this time, while the Whites are also highly unlikely to fork out the £25million he is currently valued at. Tottenham and Newcastle should have little problem matching that price-tag next month, with both placing a centre-back towards the top of their respective New Year shopping lists.
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Burnley look set for an anxious January battling to keep hold of first-choice goalkeeper James Trafford. The Sun report that Newcastle will reignite interest in the £20m-rated shot-stopper, who they have admired for some time, with competition for Nick Pope another key priority at St. James’ Park.
Interest in Trafford was present over summer and Burnley rejected a £15m bid from Newcastle, with manager Scott Parker seeing the 22-year-old as a key cog in an iron-clad defence that has conceded just nine goals in 24 games. The Clarets will be desperate not to lose that cog mid-way through a Championship promotion push but their nerve could soon be tested.
The report adds that while Turf Moor chiefs will ‘do their best’ to keep Trafford, a £20m cash injection could allow Parker to strengthen elsewhere in the squad, with last season’s first-choice Ipswich Town goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky waiting in the wings. Burnley are currently third in the Championship, three points behind Leeds.