{"id":1074651,"date":"2026-07-07T18:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T18:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1074651\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T18:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T18:42:16","slug":"graham-smyth-offers-update-on-leeds-uniteds-25million-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1074651\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Smyth offers update on Leeds United’s \u00a325million ‘talks’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds United<\/a> evidently want to bolster their midfield options this summer.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The Whites have been in hot pursuit of Southampton\u2019s Shea Charles<\/a>, having had multiple bids rejected already for the 22-year-old.<\/p>\n

As it stands, a bid of \u00a323million plus add-ons<\/a> is the latest offer tabled by Leeds for the Northern Ireland international. <\/p>\n

Leeds also recently found themselves linked with another midfielder, Mandela Keita<\/a>, with negotiations already underway, according to reports in Italy. Now, Graham Smyth has provided the latest update on Leeds and Keita. <\/p>\n

Graham Smyth shoots down possible Mandela Keita signing<\/p>\n

The links with Keita did seemingly come out of nowhere. Also, when reports from Italy suggested we were in talks for Keita for around \u00a325million, it all felt a little premature. <\/p>\n

Naturally, the Keita news was a big talking point on social media with Leeds fans. However, Smyth quickly replied to a thread on X<\/a> discussing the deal.<\/p>\n

Smyth wrote, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in it\u201d, regarding Keita\u2019s potential move to Leeds.<\/p>\n

Whilst I expected us to be potentially looking at alternative targets to Charles, I never expected the 49ers to be in active negotiations yet for these alternatives. So, Smyth\u2019s latest update came as no surprise, really.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the fact that we are not actively pursuing Keita is a sign from the 49ers that they are confident of sealing the deal with Southampton for Charles. <\/p>\n

Perhaps they feel as though they do not need to look elsewhere for midfield reinforcements. <\/p>\n

Leeds United need clarity on Shea Charles situation<\/p>\n

Sooner rather than later, we need this Charles transfer saga to be over.<\/p>\n

The sooner it is, the better, as it means we can move on to signing alternative targets in other positions.<\/p>\n

I still stand by the point that I think we have areas in our squad that need to be addressed far more urgently than the midfield department.<\/p>\n

But until we know what is happening with Charles, it makes approaching other targets trickier, as we don\u2019t know how much of our budget we have left.<\/p>\n

We desperately need a new goalkeeper and left-sided centre-back. On top of this, we ideally need more depth at left back, left-centre back and maybe even up top or out on the wing too.<\/p>\n

So in order to plug as many of these gaps as possible before the transfer window slams shut, we need to strike a deal with Southampton for Charles, or walk away and look at alternative solutions.<\/p>\n

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