The Athletic have reported that Leeds have reached an agreement with Borussia Monchengladbach to signing of centre-back Nico Elvedi. Meanwhile, some of the players who would have been unlikely to feature in the coming season are being allowed to move on.

A fee of around £7m to £8.5m has been agreed for Elvedi, who only has one year remaining on his current contract in Germany. The 29 year-old has already played under Daniel Farke for a season, and his current coach has admitted that losing him would be a ‘big blow’. So clearly the defender has indicated that he won’t renew his contract and Borussia have decided to pick up a transfer fee while they still can.

Elvedi is 6 foot 2 and has 73 caps for Switzerland, including all six of their games in their run to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and has made 318 appearances in the Bundesliga. He was reported to have been at Thorp Arch for a medical yesterday. Leeds need to register his transfer by Friday for him to be eligible for the season’s opener at Forest the following day.

If Daniel Farke is going to continue to field three central defenders on occasions he will need four quality central defenders in the squad, and Elvedi is likely to be a step up from Sebastiaan Bornauw, who seems to be heading in the opposite direction in search of more game time. Bornauw seemed competent whenever he got a game, but the writing was on the wall when it became clear that Farke would rather play Justin out of position in central defence than use his services.

He was in Hamburg on Monday for a medical while a season-long loan was discussed between, with the German club having an option to convert the deal into a permanent transfer at the end of the season.

Meanwhile Joel Piroe is also likely to be going on a season-long loan, with the other club having an option to buy, as he heads south for a medical at freshly relegated West Ham. Previously we were asking for £16million plus bonuses, but we had no takers at that price, so this deal might be the best we are able to do.

The Hammers have obviously been attracted by his scoring record in the Championship, but the Dutchman failed to score a single goal in the Premier League, looking a little too slow to outwit the defenders at the top level. Though he was still the best natural finisher at the club, and might have fared better if he could have played alongside DCL in a two-pronged attack.

Another striker to move on is ‘Joffy’ Gelhardt, who has completed a permanent transfer to Hull City, after a successful loan spell last season, when he was a key player as the Tigers secured promotion via the play-offs. The fee has been described as ‘undisclosed’ on the official Leeds United site, but’ £6.5 million’ elsewhere.

At the end of the 2021/2 season Gelhardt seemed to be the breakout star at Elland Road, with several key contributions to the side who avoided relegation on the final day of the season. But he never managed to kick on from there, essentially because of Daniel Farke’s reluctance to play more than one up front.

Joffy lacks the physical presence to play as a lone striker, as became very apparent during a loan spell at Sunderland, where injuries to other players meant he had to play in just such a role. Perhaps these days smaller strikers need to reinvent themselves as attacking midfielders who can still score goals by making late runs into the box. Joffy managed to score 14 goals for Hull last season and I’ll wish him well for the coming season, but I fear that it’s going to be a struggle for everyone at the MKM Stadium.

There will undoubtedly be plenty more going on in the transfer market until the end of the window, so watch this space.

Reuters