Leeds United have made a second bid for Lecce striker Nikola Krstovic, according to reports in Italy, with the two clubs now thought to be close to an agreement.<\/p>\n
Reports of Leeds<\/strong><\/a>\u2018 interest first emerged last week alongside their interest in Jaka Bijol<\/strong><\/a>. Sky Italia were the outlet to break news of the Whites interest, with sources close to the club either unsure or mildly skeptical, yet unable to deny United\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n \u2018The Whites have identified US Lecce\u2019s Nikola Krstovi\u0107 as a target to strengthen their attack.<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s according to Sky Italia, who state Leeds have made an approach to sign the 25-year-old.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n On Monday, Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno claimed Leeds had no intention of giving up on the 25-year-old, and that a second approach was in the works.<\/p>\n Corriere dello Sport now report that an \u2018agreement in principle\u2019 is in place between the two clubs, though that figure is quoted at \u20ac23 million \u2013 significantly below Lecce\u2019s earlier valuation.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no word yet on the figures involved, but Calcio Lecce suggest the offer is in line with the Serie A side\u2019s demands, which could rise to \u20ac35million including bonuses. Leeds\u2019 latest move follows an earlier bid rejected last week, with the club refusing to walk away from talks despite the initial setback.<\/p>\n Whether that\u2019s a base fee with add-ons or a reworking of the payment structure isn\u2019t yet clear, but the signs suggest Lecce are preparing for a sale. The Italian club already have a replacement lined up in FC Basel\u2019s Kevin Carlos and are ready to move if Krstovic accepts the offer from Elland Road.<\/p>\n MORE LEEDS UNITED COVERAGE ON F365\u2026 That remains the key sticking point.<\/p>\n While Leeds have made a formal proposal to the player, Sky Italia report that Krstovic is undecided, with no concrete interest yet from the bigger Serie A sides he is holding out for. Leeds are hopeful that the offer on the table, both in terms of personal terms and the chance to play Premier League football, will be enough to convince him.<\/p>\n Daniel Farke has made no secret of the need to reinforce his attack following promotion, and Krstovic has been a long-standing target. The Montenegro international scored eight goals in 32 league appearances last season and is seen as a physical, direct number nine who could slot into Leeds\u2019 system with minimal fuss.<\/p>\n Leeds remain optimistic they can get the deal over the line, but the next step now depends on the player. The club are prepared to improve their offer to Krstovi\u0107 personally if needed, with the expectation that a decision could come quickly.<\/p>\n With Lecce increasingly resigned to his exit and Leeds pushing hard, the ball is now firmly in the striker\u2019s court and the move will depend on his wishes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United have made a second bid for Lecce striker Nikola Krstovic, according to reports in Italy, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,163,4884,225,1860,2922,12,79747,101,16,2970,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-210241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-front-page","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-leeds","14":"tag-leeds-united","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nikola-krstovic","17":"tag-premier-league","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-uncategorized","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114738105365883935","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210241","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=210241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
<\/strong>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Leeds given clear path to top goalkeeper target as Turkish giants move for Meslier<\/strong><\/a>
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Leeds told to pay \u2018record\u2019 fee to sign PL striker; given \u2018solution\u2019 for shock move to sign ex-Villa star<\/strong><\/a>
\ud83d\udc49 Fresh report confirms Leeds \u2018among\u2019 clubs \u2018interested\u2019 in \u2018\u20ac20m\u2019 title-winning midfielder<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n