Leeds United have been working to sign AZ Alkmaar left-back Milos Kerkez in the summer transfer window.
Will Leeds sign a left-back?
Assuming the Whites avoid relegation from the Premier League this season, the hope is that they will be able to embark on a fruitful summer in the transfer market. More quality will be required all over the pitch, in order for Leeds to rise up the table next year, and the potential takeover of the club could certainly help, in that respect.
One area of the pitch where they could look to strengthen is left-back, considering the Whites have conceded 54 goals in 30 league matches in 2022/23, prior to the visit of Liverpool. Junior Firpo has never consistently impressed for the club – he has only scored two goals and registered four assists in 46 appearances overall – and they need to be looking at new options moving forward.
It looks as though Leeds are eyeing up the services of a talented young defender, following a new transfer report that has emerged.
What's the latest on Kerkez?
According to Record [via Sport Witness], both Leeds and Borussia Dortmund are applying "pressure" on Kerkez, as they look to lure him away from Alkmaar at the end of the season.
Benfica are also in the running and have been trying to "seduce" him for a while now, but the Whites and Dortmund are not prepared to "let him go" and give the Portuguese giants an easy path to sign him, with the Yorkshire outfit putting in work to get a deal over the line ahead of the next transfer window.
Signing Kerkez could be a shrewd piece of business by Leeds, should they be able to beat others to his services. That may not be easy, however, considering both Dortmund and Benfica are Champions League-playing clubs, therefore potentially jumping out as more attractive propositions to the six-cap Hungary international.
He has scored three goals in the Eredivisie this season – more than Firpo in his whole Whites career, as mentioned – and at 19, he is a long-prospect who has been hailed as both "fantastic" and a "high-quality attacking full-back" by football talent scout Jacek Kulig.
Kerkez could come in as an upgrade on Firpo, despite being seven years his junior, at least providing him with stern competition from the off, eventually turning into a more formidable, rounded footballer as his game matures.