{"id":1140449,"date":"2026-08-09T22:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1140449\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T22:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:12:16","slug":"leeds-49ers-target-set-for-medical-and-record-breaking-transfer-as-farke-faces-rethink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1140449\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds: 49ers target set for medical and record-breaking transfer as Farke faces rethink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long-time Leeds United<\/a> target Shea Charles is reportedly set to have a medical with Fulham ahead of a \u00a330m transfer.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old enjoyed an impressive 2025-26 campaign as Southampton mounted a remarkable end-of-season surge, only to be kicked out of the play-offs after being caught spying on Middlesbrough, among other Championship rivals.<\/p>\n

The Northern Ireland international, who can play as a defensive midfielder, a central midfielder, a full-back or a centre-back, has been the subject of a great deal of transfer interest, particularly from Leeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Daniel Farke\u2019s side repeatedly had bids in excess of \u00a320m knocked back by Southampton, who were determined to get at least \u00a330m for his services.<\/p>\n

Prior to those bids, Charles<\/a> \u2013 who scored six goals and added two assists in 38 games last season \u2013 himself did not cut a figure that was particularly itching to leave St Mary\u2019s.<\/p>\n

When asked about his future plans, he said in early June, \u201cAt the moment I am focused on Southampton and the next campaign. Obviously we\u2019ll see what happens when we go back into camp or pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to going back to Southampton.\u201d<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T MISS: Leeds: Ex-Whites boss fires back at Kasper Schmeichel\u2019s \u2018unwelcome\u2019 Elland Road claim<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

TEAMtalk previously reported that Fulham were closing in on a deal for Charles<\/a>, as Leeds refused to go above the \u00a325m mark for the former Manchester City youngster.<\/p>\n

The Whites are on the lookout for a new central midfielder but it seems the 49ers were not prepared to be held to ransom.<\/p>\n

That allowed Fulham<\/a> to steal a march on their Premier League rivals and now, head coach Alvaro Arbeloa looks to have got his man.<\/p>\n

Medical booked for Fulham target Shea Charles<\/p>\n

According to David Ornstein of The Athletic<\/a>, Charles is set for a medical on Monday at Fulham in a deal that could reach \u00a330m.<\/p>\n

He is set to sign a five-year contract with the Cottagers in a move that would make him the most expensive Northern Irish footballer ever \u2013 with the previous record held by Jamal Lewis when Newcastle United paid Norwich City \u00a315m for his services in 2020.<\/p>\n

Fulham will reportedly pay an upfront fee of \u00a326m with a further \u00a34m in performance-related add-ons for the midfielder who has made 76 appearances for the Saints since joining from Man City in 2023.<\/p>\n

Charles, who is the brother of Northern Ireland goalkeeper Pierce Charles, played 38 times for Southampton in the 2023-24 promotion season but was loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday the following campaign.<\/p>\n

Charles could have played his brother Pierce in the Championship this season after the 21-year-old re-joined Man City this summer, before heading to Queens Park Rangers on loan.<\/p>\n

However, this Fulham move has scuppered that. Meanwhile for Leeds, their hunt for a new central midfielder goes on.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Leeds: 49ers consider completing one-year transfer pursuit amid \u00a328m bid for coveted target<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long-time Leeds United target Shea Charles is reportedly set to have a medical with Fulham ahead of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1140450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[160,748,9030,393,163,1625,4884,1039,1860,2922,101,69974,9061,100,16,15],"class_list":["post-1140449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-all-the-news","tag-britain","tag-championship","tag-england","tag-front-page","tag-fulham","tag-great-britain","tag-homepage","tag-leeds","tag-leeds-united","tag-premier-league","tag-shea-charles","tag-southampton-fc","tag-transfer-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1140449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1140450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1140449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1140449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1140449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}