{"id":315173,"date":"2025-08-03T18:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T18:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315173\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T18:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T18:13:11","slug":"8m-leeds-united-target-left-out-of-his-sides-squad-for-pre-season-friendly-against-fiorentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315173\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a38m Leeds United target left out of his side\u2019s squad for pre-season friendly\u00a0against Fiorentina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leeds United fans who were keeping a close eye on the teamsheets for today\u2019s pre-season friendlies will have noticed the absence of one of their side\u2019s reported transfer targets. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Farke<\/a> remains in the hunt to strengthen several key positions in the Leeds squad, having watched his side secure a 1-1 draw against Villarreal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Although Joel Piroe scored another goal<\/a>, Leeds are on the hunt for another striker, with reports in France linking them with a move for Arnaud Kalimuendo<\/a> of Stade Rennais. <\/p>\n

With Leeds also in the market for a full-back and a winger, the Leicester City pair of \u00a38 million man James Justin<\/a> and Bilal El Khannouss<\/a> have both been named as potential targets to join Farke\u2019s newly-promoted side. <\/p>\n

Now, the squad for Leicester\u2019s final pre-season friendly may offer a clue over the pair\u2019s future, as Justin missed the game. <\/p>\n

\"JamesPhoto by Plumb Images\/Leicester City FC via Getty ImagesJames Justin misses pre-season friendly amid Leeds United links<\/p>\n

Leeds are reportedly targeting Justin to bolster their options at full-back with uncertainty over the future of Isaac Schmidt<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Leicester took on Fiorentina in their final pre-season friendly ahead of the new Championship season, but Justin was left out of the squad as the Foxes secured a 2-0 win. <\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

There was no mention of an injury to the full-back in the team announcement, and Justin was interviewed in Leicester\u2019s preview<\/a> of the game, as he reflected on their pre-season, stating: \u201cWe\u2019re ready to get back to work. It\u2019s trying to get that togetherness building within the group and getting the intensity back. That\u2019s a big one for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leicester boss Marti Cifuentes elected to use Luke Thomas and Hamza Choudhury as his starting full-backs in a move which is certain to further fuel speculation over Justin\u2019s future at the club. <\/p>\n

Bilal El Khannouss stars for Leicester City<\/p>\n

While Justin missed the game against the Serie A giants, \u00a324.5 million man El Khannouss<\/a> started in the number 10 role in the victory. <\/p>\n

He started the game in lively fashion, firing over the bar after 10 minutes before laying on an assist for Jordan Ayew as the Foxes took the lead. <\/p>\n

\"BilalPhoto by Michael Regan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

El Khannouss played a total of 81 minutes, with three shots, two chances created and 55 touches in total according to the Fotmob<\/a> stats from the game. <\/p>\n

Although El Khannouss\u2019 appearance does not rule him out of a move away from the club, it potentially says more about Justin\u2019s future, as the Foxes prepare for a raid on their top talent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United fans who were keeping a close eye on the teamsheets for today\u2019s pre-season friendlies will have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[107635,748,393,4884,114818,1860,100,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-315173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-bilal-el-khannouss","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-james-justin","13":"tag-leeds","14":"tag-transfer-news","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114966194401417857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315173","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=315173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}