{"id":949249,"date":"2026-05-09T22:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/949249\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T22:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:59:20","slug":"leeds-on-verge-of-first-summer-signing-with-free-agent-very-close-to-elland-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/949249\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds on verge of first summer signing with free agent ‘very close’ to Elland Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds<\/a> will be without Swiss forward Noah Okafor for Monday\u2019s trip to Tottenham.<\/p>\n

Okafor has scored four goals in Leeds\u2019 six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, which has all but secured their safety, including a brace in last month\u2019s 2-1 win at Manchester United.<\/p>\n

But Leeds assistant Edmund Riemer, deputising for the ill Daniel Farke at Friday\u2019s press conference, said: \u201cNoah picked up a calf strain so will miss the next two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hopeful he will be available for the last game. He sustained the injury after the FA Cup (defeat against Chelsea), it was the right calf, but in the Burnley game he pulled the left calf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Okafor-Leeds\"<\/p>\n

Riemer expects head coach Farke to be in the dugout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Gabriel Gudmundsson will be unavailable again, with Pascal Struijk (hip) facing a late fitness test.<\/p>\n

Leeds, in 14th, are seven points clear of the drop and their top-flight place could be assured before they next step on to the pitch if 18th-placed West Ham lose against league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Riemer is not taking anything for granted, however, as he added: \u201cOf course we take it however it comes, but we want to be ready whatever happens. We don\u2019t want to be surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a huge test. We are fully aware we need to be up to it and maintain our top, top form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds transfer news: Hidemasa Morita signing ‘very close’<\/p>\n

According to A Bola,<\/a> Sporting CP are now shopping for new midfielders this summer, including Tottenham’s on-loan star Joao Palhinha. <\/p>\n

This is because their own midfield general, Hidemasa Morita, is ‘very close’ to joining Leeds.<\/p>\n

\"hidemasa-morita-sporting\"<\/p>\n

Morita is out of contract at the end of this season, and is represented by the same agency as current Elland Road star Ao Tanaka.<\/p>\n

Tanaka himself has been linked with an exit this summer, so it seems it could be a case of one-out-one-in for Japan midfielders in Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Morita is three years older than the current Whites star at 30, but has still been hugely effective for Sporting this season, playing 29 times in the league and 11 in the Champions League en route to the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Known slightly more for his defensive work, he has scored just once this season but averages 1.7 tackles per game, over double Tanaka’s 0.8.<\/p>\n

Leeds are expected to strengthen significantly in midfield and attack this summer, where more goalscoring support is needed for Dominic Calvert-Lewin despite his incredible debut campaign with the club.<\/p>\n

Read more: Leeds have also been linked with signing a Wolves star instead of Morita<\/a><\/p>\n


\n \"hidemasa-morita-sporting\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tBetter than Morita: Leeds have held in-person talks to sign \u00a335m Wolves star
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Leeds United could now land a impressive record signing this summer in the form of a \u00a335m midfielder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds will be without Swiss forward Noah Okafor for Monday\u2019s trip to Tottenham. Okafor has scored four goals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-949249","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-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116547104242455279","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949249","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=949249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}