On an otherwise quiet week for news, there have been various reports of several key figures leaving the club in the summer, from two players to our beloved President, while the head coach has yet to sign a new contract.

First up is the story that Southampton are likely to make a bid for Pontus Jansson. Clubcall have reported that a scout from the south coast mob came to Elland Road to watch our talisman during the Sheffield Wednesday game. They have certainly shown interest in Jansson in the past, having tracked him whilst at Malmo instead, but in November 2013 the player joined Torino instead.

And the chances are that the Saints will look for another central defender after José Fonte went to West Ham during the last transfer window. But they would have stood a much better chance of landing Jansson a few months ago when we only had him on loan. Now he’s completed a permanent transfer to Leeds, with a contract until 2020, and takes every opportunity to tell everyone how happy he is at our wonderful club.

A far more likely departure is Charlie Taylor, especially now that the Yorkshire Post have reported that Liverpool have now appeared on the scene. The Anfield giants would certainly be a step up from the series of lesser Premier League clubs who have shown interest in the left back during the last year. But that is currently a problem position for Liverpool, who have had to play James Milner out of position for most of the season.

Taylor has shown no interest in signing a new contract, and his injury during January removed any temptation Leeds might have felt to sell him while we still had the chance. Taylor is likely to be back in the side as soon as he regains his fitness, as Garry Monk considers him to be a key member of the team, but the chances are we would have to win promotion to stand any chance of keeping Taylor for 2017/8.

And an even bigger concern is that the head coach himself could be out of contract in the summer. Massimo Cellino has always given his coaches short term deals, in order to minimise the compensation bill if he should dispense with them after six weeks, but the obvious problem with this is that it could give other clubs the opportunity to poach any coach that does well.

At his latest press conference Monk said "I haven't spoken to the club yet. I am very much focussed on the football. My contract is until the summer but there is a lot of time between now and the end of the season." Which doesn’t indicate that he’s in a rush to leave, but Rangers are one club who have been said to be interested in Monk, and we will be vulnerable to others in search of a manager until those in charge of Leeds United sign him up to a longer deal.

And will Massimo Cellino still be around to offer Monk a new contract? There have been rumours this week that he’s thinking of giving up his life in England and buying Brescia club back in his native country. The story goes back to November, and last weekend Italian website TUTTOmercatoWEB said that an agreement between Cellino and Brescia was “one step away”.

But the Italian club responded with a formal statement to say that “the company has not been sold and it is not in the moment no negotiations and, in particular, there is no contact, direct or indirect with Massimo Cellino.”Of all the possible departures, Il Presidente is the one we’d really like to see, but it could be while yet before we’ve got rid of him.

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