Leeds United may be interested to know that one of their key transfer targets this summer has just rejected a move out of the country. Could he yet be heading to Elland Road?
Leeds United are making steady progress in the summer transfer window. There are now six new signings to talk of at Elland Road and Daniel Farke doesn’t look set to stop there any time soon.
Reports are revealing that Lucas Perri is set to join Leeds United from Lyon. He’ll become the club’s new number one and he’s expected to sign in the very near future amid reports that Perri has flown into England to undergo medical tests at Thorp Arch.
And he’ll finally bolster that goalkeeper position which has been a problem one for Farke since the turn of the year. After that, we can expect to see attacking signings become the focus at Leeds.
Already, Farke has said he has completed his midfield and defensive signings and so it looks like a new striker, a new winger, and a new number 10 will become the focus.
And one striker that Leeds have liked all summer long is Josh Sargent. In fact, Farke has been a fan of the striker since he brought him to Norwich City in 2021 and he’s had a keen interest in him as Leeds United manager since the start of the year.
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesLiam Manning breaks silence on Josh Sargent’s failed Wolfsburg transfer
Going into the summer, reports revealed that Sargent was a key target for Leeds United. It comes after Sargent’s impressive 2024/25 season in the Championship where he scored 15 goals in just 32 games for Norwich City, who eventually finished in 15th place of the Championship table.
However, earlier in the month, reports revealed that Wolfsburg were set to sign Sargent. The deal was set to cost the Bundesliga side £16.5m, before reports then dramatically revealed that Sargent had pulled out of the move to Wolfsburg.
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Speaking to Pink Un, Norwich City manager Liam Manning has revealed that the current situation is tough for Sargent, but that he remains committed and loyal to the club and to his training ahead of the start of the new season.
Manning explained: “It is tough for Sarge. There is so much noise. I think what he has done a terrific job of is just coming in and enjoying his football. The way he put himself about in this game you could never question his focus.
“He competed, he led, and the last 10 days his impact on and off the pitch has been fantastic. I have said that to him. I’ve got a really good relationship with him and because of that I can just say to him, ‘Keep your head down and worry about your football until anything changes’. He is very much ‘all in’ on what we are doing at the moment.”
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty ImagesWhat Graham Bailey has said about Josh Sargent to Leeds United
There are many Leeds fans out there who’d be unimpressed with the signing of Sargent. He’s failed in the Premier League before. But he would return to the Premier League as a much better suited player, having impressed in the last two seasons in the Championship.
Speaking to Leeds United News previously, transfer expert Graeme Bailey explained how Sargent is a much better player right now than he was before.
He said: “Whoever gets him is getting a bargain. He was so good. He’s so, so much better than he was [before]. I wouldn’t rule Leeds out of it.”
What’s interesting is that Sargent also fits in with the transfer pattern we are seeing at Leeds United this summer. Farke isn’t breaking the bank on big-name players, instead spending between £15m and £20m on new signings, leaving himself with enough money to bolster multiple positions on the pitch.
In that sense, and in the sense that Farke and Sargent have worked together in the past, the Norwich City man could be a great fit for Leeds United, and should he arrive, he’d have the chance to prove all of his doubters wrong.
But there would be a lot of scepticism over whether he can score the goals to keep Leeds United in the Premier League next season.