Leeds United handed Jonathan Rowe transfer boost as fresh Marseille issue raised amid £26m 'agreement'
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Leeds United have received a massive possible boost in their pursuit of Jonathan Rowe with reports from France suggesting their main rivals could back down.
Rowe emerged as a target for Leeds earlier this month, following confirmation of Crysencio Summerville’s £25million-plus move to West Ham United. Manager Daniel Farke hopes to split the goalscoring burden left by Summerville between the squad but a new signing out wide would certainly ease the pressure, and The Telegraph initially claimed a valuation around the £7m mark had been floated.
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Hide AdThat is thought to be some way below Norwich City’s price-tag, however, and hope of signing Rowe suffered a blow when Fabrizio Romano reported on a formal bid from Marseille over the weekend. That offer is also thought to be short of what the Canaries want and now L’Equipe has suggested a move to France looks ‘complex’ as things stand.
The main issue is thought to be financial, with Norwich’s rumoured £15m valuation too expensive for Marseille, who have splashed the cash already this summer but do not have an infinite pool of funds. The Ligue 1 club have most recently committed €30m (around £25.6m) to signing forward Elye Wahi from league rivals RC Lens.
L’Equipe claim Wahi arrived in Marseille for medical tests on Monday and will put pen to paper on a five-year deal, with an initial €25m going to Lens plus the potential of €5m add-ons. As an out-and-out striker, he will sign as an alternative to previous target, Eddie Nketiah, but the large financial commitment will inevitably have a knock-on effect regarding their ability to fork out at least £15m for Rowe.
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Hide AdLeeds are the only other team to have been linked with interest in Rowe, and while the initial £7m valuation is not believed to have materialised into a formal offer, the YEP understands he remains a target for Elland Road recruitment chiefs. It remains to be seen whether a bid will actually be submitted but the winger’s withdrawal from the Norwich squad for Saturday’s defeat at Oxford United appears to have burned a few bridges.
Local outlet The Pink Un reported on Monday that, following talks between Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup and sporting director Ben Knapper, Rowe has been told to train away from the first-team and is not expected to feature in their Carabao Cup clash against Stevenage this evening. But while Thorup was far from pleased over the weekend, he did not rule out reintegration if a transfer does not happen.
“There will always be (a way back), and it's just a matter of behaviour and how the players respond to this,” he said after Saturday’s defeat. “Of course, it's a situation that should not happen, but you can never know what happens on Sunday. We can have a good conversation, and we can have a not so good conversation, you never know.”
Norwich were expected to lose at least one first-team player this summer but are better-placed to hold firm on their valuation, having brought in around £20m via Gabriel Sara’s move to Galatasaray while Celtic have agreed a deal worth £9.5m for striker Adam Idah. There is a little under three weeks left to conclude any business before the transfer window closes on August 30.