West Ham and Crystal Palace ‘join’ race for Leeds United starlet

Leeds United face losing a number of players in the January transfer window
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

West Ham and Crystal Palace have become the latest two teams to express interest in signing Leeds United’s Cody Drameh, according to TEAMtalk. The defender has now been linked with Premier League, Championship and Bundesliga clubs.

Drameh joined Leeds’ academy from Fulham in 2020 and made his professional debut a year later, starting in a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup fourth round. Five days later he made his Premier League debut in a win over Norwich and went onto join Cardiff City on loan in January. Despite only spending the second half of the campaign in Wales, Drameh was named their Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season after 22 appearances.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 20-year-old has made only one appearance in the Premier League this season and has spent a majority of time with the U21 side after failing to overtake Rasmus Kristensen and Luke Ayling in the pecking order. Drameh has shared his frustration at his lack of game time at Elland Road and his complaints have set a number of clubs on high alert as they look to snap up the promising youngster. West Ham and Crystal Palace have joined Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and Norwich in England, as well as Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig also monitoring the full-back.

The Whites were eager to offer Drameh a new contract to remain in Yorkshire to ward off any interest despite still having two years remaining on his current deal, however the report claims that talks have broken down as they have been unable to come to an agreement. With Jesse Marsch only bringing Kristensen in from his former club RB Salzburg this summer, it seems unlikely that Drameh is going to be able to pick up the minutes he wants and looks increasingly likely to look elsewhere.

However, the Premier League clubs looking to sign Drameh are also unlikely to be able to offer him the first team football he requires and so the England youth international could look to the Championship if he is to leave Elland Road in the near future. A move to the Bundesliga may also be appealing given the amount of English talent they have helped develop in recent years, with the likes of Jadon Sancho, Ethan Ampadu and Jude Bellingham all enjoying spells in Germany.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.