There are two different stories about why the Michael Cuisance deal collapsed, but whatever the reason it means that Leeds are running out of time to sign an attacking midfield player before the window shuts.
The deal with Bayern Munich for Michaël Cuisance collapsed today, after the clubs had agreed a £20million fee for the French midfielder and he had signed a five-year deal. It seemed that all that was left was to complete his medical, and when the deal fell through it was first reported that some injury problem had been discovered.
Phil Hay and David Ornstein said on The Athletic website that the 21 year old was flying back to Munich after he failed the medical, but there is no word on what the injury problem actually was. Is that due to confidentiality, or is there actually another reason why it all fell through?
A different story is being reported by Fabrizio Romano, an Italian journalist who specialises in transfers and works for Sky and the Guardian, amongst others. On his personal Twitter account, Romano claimed that there were "serious problems” over the structure of the payments, as well as a disagreement over a buy-back clause.
So what now for Leeds? We are still looking for another creative midfielder as cover for Pablo Hernandez, partly due to the Spaniard’s current injury, but also because at the age of 35 he may no longer have the legs to be able to play in every game. Rodrigo De Paul might be an option, but Udinese are still playing hardball and refusing to budge on their asking price of £32m.
The PA news agency are claiming that Leeds are in talks with Norwich over England Under-21 international Todd Cantwell. A fee of £15million has been mentioned, but the midfielder still needs to agree personal terms. I’m slightly underwhelmed by the prospect of signing Cantwell, but he has scored eight goals in 70 appearances for Delia’s mob, six of which came in the Premier League last season.
And as ever, there are a few other central midfielders who are supposedly in the frame. I give you Toulouse’s Kouadio Manu Kone (according to journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi) and Lazio’s Luis Alberto (reported by Italian newspaper Il Messaggero).
One other story (in The Scottish Daily Mail) is that we might be interested in taking 20-year-old Ryan Sessegnon on loan, as he may be surplus to requirements at the Lane this season, now that Gareth Bale has come back, also on loan. His versatility will no doubt appeal to Bielsa, as he could operate on the left side of midfield or play at left back to give Dallas the chance to move further forward.
Since he moved to Tottenham Sessegnon hasn’t quite lived up to the promise he showed when he first burst onto the scene at Fulham, but that hasn’t stopped a whole host of clubs expressing interest in the player. They include Celtic, Brighton, Southampton, Ajax and even Hertha Berlin. So there seems to be a lot of competition for his signature, but could the Bielsa factor swing it our way?
Victor Orta is certainly going to have a busy couple of days before the transfer window shuts on Monday night, but one way or another we should be able to get a couple of the signings we need to strengthen the squad.