Steve Evans is hoping to bring in at least three loan players before the end of the international break, but has had no luck so far in his efforts to sign Liam Bridcutt and Anders Lindegaard.
Leeds were originally hoping to sign Sunderland defensive midfielder Liam Bridcutt in time for last week’s game with Cardiff City, but as it turned out we didn’t even manage to land him in time for the trip to Huddersfield. And we now face competition from Cardiff and Reading for the 26-year-old’s signature.
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce said on Thursday that the possible loan was "confused, a bit like Leeds”, though he didn’t elaborate on that remark. But after Saturday’s game Steve Evans said "I spoke to Liam on Friday and the conversation went extremely well.” Bridcutt is considering his options.
Evans is also looking for a goalkeeper, given Marco Silvestri’s dodgy form and the injury to Ross Turnbull, with Charlie Horton presumably considered too inexperienced for the time being. We have been linked with a move for West Brom goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard (and whisper it softly, but he was once on the books of Man United).
Currently Boaz Myhill is the first choice keeper at the Hawthorns, but Albion are currently reluctant to loan him out while their other senior keeper, Ben Foster, is recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury. But The Birmingham Mail are reporting that Foster is now back in training and expected to return to match action next month, and when that happens Tony Pulis might allow Lindegaard to go out on loan.
And in other rumours, we have also been linked with Peter Crouch, who would at least be guaranteed to win a lot more headers than Chris Wood. He would have been handy under Rosler’s single striker system, but less so under Evans’ more fluid 4-4-2, and the club have dismissed the suggestion that we’re after the Stoke City beanpole.
The Yorkshire Post have reported that Norwich’s Kyle Lafferty or Lewis Grabban are more likely targets as Evans continues to look for options to boost his forward line. After we’ve sent so many players down to Carrow Road it’s about time Delia returned the favour.
So there’s nothing to report just yet in terms of actual signings, but the chances are that we will have bolstered the squad before we face Rotherham in twelve days time.