With the club presently experiencing a turbulent run of results, Leeds United are purported to already be perusing transfer targets so as to bolster the squad at Elland Road come the beginning of the January transfer window.
Two forwards plying their trade in Germany and Austria respectively are said to have piqued the interest of United's scouting department.
First, Marvin Ducksch, a German-born 23-year-old who is at the time of writing the leading goalscorer in Germany's Bundesliga 2 having scored ten goals in the colours of newly promoted Holstein Kiel this season.
A product of Borussia Dortmund's illustrious academy, the towering striker, who stands at 6 ft 2, scored prolifically for the Westfalenstadion club's various development squads and is presently on loan at Kiel from divisional rivals Hamburg St Pauli. Once considered a precocious talent during his formative years in the Dortmund academy, Ducksch conceded in an interview upon his move to St Pauli in 2016 that he had made irresponsible dietary decisions that perhaps cost him a future with his boyhood club.
The Daily Mail's Simon Jones alleged, in a recent report, that Leeds scouts were in attendance for Holstein's 2-2 draw at home to Nuremberg last Saturday, and that they will doubtless have been disappointed by the forward's slipshod showing. Ducksch was substituted without having scored after 68 minutes, and Jones observed that the former Germany U17 international 'lacks the pace and movement' that United are seeking.
Second, Red Bull Salzburg's 25-year-old Israeli striker Moanes Dabour is also reported to have aroused appreciable interest from Leeds. The Israel international - who boasts seven caps - has scored a commendable 13 goals in 18 appearances for the defending Austrian champions this season, and has formerly played for Grasshopper Zürich of Switzerland and Maccabi Tel-Aviv of his native Israel. Between 2014 and 2016, Dabour netted 41 goals in 82 domestic appearances for Grasshoper, making plain his goalscoring prowess.
United, who began the season in a manner most sprightly, have suffered a poor run of form in recent weeks and with doubts cast over the fitness of on-loan Hamburger SV striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga, it is little wonder that the club are actively identifying transfer targets ahead of the January transfer window.