Championship new-boys Portsmouth 'consider' move for Leeds United summer exit amid Blackburn Rovers talks
The Scotland international is assessing options after his Leeds United contract expired earlier this summer.
Liam Cooper continues to attract interest from the Championship with reports naming Portsmouth as the defender’s latest potential destination.
Cooper is without a club after seeing his Leeds United contract expire at the end of June, with talks over an extension failing to materialise into an actual offer. The YEP understands a verbal proposal was floated, but the value was below what he could reasonably expect in League One and reflected his fall in the defensive pecking order under Daniel Farke.
Blackburn Rovers held extensive talks with Cooper’s representatives but failed to reach an agreement and have since signed fellow free agent Danny Batth, while Sheffield United have also been linked after taking another Leeds release, Jamie Shackleton, on board earlier this summer. But second-tier interest remains and TEAMtalk reports on links with Championship new-boys Portsmouth.
As with Blackburn, Portsmouth are keen to bring in second-tier experience as manager John Mousinho builds a squad he hopes can thrive. Twenty-eight-year-old Conor Shaughnessy is currently the oldest head in central defence and with a tight budget, low cost or free options are being weighed up by those in charge at Fratton Park.
Portsmouth kicked off their 2024/25 Championship campaign with a thrilling 3-3 draw at Leeds, but were disappointed not to come away with all three points in the end. Mousinho’s men looked to have won it when Callum Lang stroked home a 92nd-minute penalty, but for Brenden Aaronson to draw his side level even deeper into added-time - the American even had the chance to win it but hooked a great opportunity wide.
Farke started Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk at centre-back on Saturday and while the former endured a tough 90 minutes, the pair are expected to remain first-choice for the foreseeable future. Cooper is now below Struijk and returning loanee Max Wober in the left centre-back role, while Farke showed last season that he would also drop new club captain Ethan Ampadu back before starting the Scotland international.
Leeds are yet to officially confirm Cooper’s exit but handed the armband to Ampadu on a permanent basis earlier this month, with vice captains Pascal Struijk and Illan Meslier forming a three-man leadership group. And Farke all but confirmed the 32-year-old would not be returning after the first summer friendly against Harrogate Town.
“No, so we have spoken about this," Farke said at the time when quizzed on Cooper. "It's more or less that the players who are here are the players that we work with. I have said so much about Liam and praised him so much so I think no more words needed. But right now we concentrate on the players who are around.”
The summer transfer window closes on August 30, which is less than three weeks away, but Cooper’s free agent status would allow him to sign for a new club after that deadline.