Leeds United’s striker search has taken extra precedence this week, amid reports that Mateo Joseph could be on his way out of Elland Road.
Mateo Joseph is one of just three out-and-out strikers at Daniel Farke’s disposal at Leeds United, with Joel Piroe and Patrick Bamford being the others.
But even in the Championship Joseph was a backup player, and heading into the Premier League, it doesn’t look like gametime will be readily available. If anything, Joseph would be there simply to boost the numbers.
And now it looks like he’s off. It’s understood that Leeds United have agreed to sell Joseph for an £8.5million fee and the Spanish U21s star is keen to join Real Betis, following in Junior Firpo’s footsteps after he agreed a three-year deal with the La Liga club.
That leaves Farke with a quite perilous situation up front with only two strikers at his disposal. Several are being linked with a move to Elland Road but none are seemingly close to arriving. One name who could gather speed in the coming weeks though is Evan Ferguson, once described by former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi as a ‘special striker’.
Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty ImagesUpdate emerges on Evan Ferguson’s Brighton future amid Leeds United links
Back in January, Leeds United were interested in signing Ferguson on loan from Brighton. Instead, the Seagulls loaned him to West Ham where he endured perhaps the toughest spell of his career so far. The Irishman faced huge criticism after failing to score in eight Premier League games.
And going into this summer it has been reported that Leeds United have retained their interest in Ferguson, who could now be on his way out of Brighton on a permanent basis. Irish Times have detailed the latest on the 20-year-old, writing that ‘could be allowed to leave Brighton permanently’.
Unfortunately for Leeds, Everton are one of the teams showing a strong interest, per the same report. Everton and Leeds United are battling to sign Habib Diarra this summer as well.
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Evan Ferguson is just one name on Leeds United’s striker shortlist
Leeds United are linked with several strikers right now, but none of the links are all that exciting: even the Ferguson link does little to excite given his fall from grace in the last season or two.
But a previous report revealed that Leeds United have a three-striker shortlist going into this summer, which includes Ferguson, Jamie Vardy and Callum Wilson.
Vardy is out of contract and linked with a number of teams right now. Meanwhile, Wilson is in talks to stay with Newcastle United beyond this summer, with his original contract set to expire at the end of June.
So for Leeds, striker targets seem to be thinning, at least the Premier League-experienced ones. Farke might instead need to take a gamble on an unproven name ahead of his side’s 2025/26 battle.