Leeds United No. 10 target reportedly set for £5m transfer after Elland Road chiefs turn down signing
Leeds United's summer transfer target Roland Sallai is reportedly on the verge of joining Turkish club Galatasaray in a transfer worth 6 million Euros (£5 million), according to Fabrizio Romano.
Leeds were said to hold an interest in the Hungarian international who was into the final year of his SC Freiburg contract, but opted not to sign the attacker before the transfer deadline. It was suggested the 27-year-old would be attainable for £9 million.
United instead chose to pursue a move for Sheffield United's Gustavo Hamer, lodging a £13 million bid for the playmaker which was rejected out of hand by the Bramall Lane club.
Chief executive Angus Kinnear also revealed in a new interview with The Square Ball Podcast that Leeds enquired about Emiliano Buendia at Aston Villa but were told he was not free to leave Villa Park and that the Argentine, who had previously worked with Daniel Farke at Norwich City, was unwilling to play in the Championship.
1.FC Koln midfielder Dejan Ljubicic was also eyed as a possible solution as an advanced No. 8/No. 10 but Leeds appeared unwilling to increase their initial bid of £3.3 million, which was rejected earlier in the summer.
"The one missing piece of the jigsaw which Daniel was very fair to identify, was ideally to give the window an A+ grade, we'd have secured a No. 10. Those No. 10s as Daniel did point out in his interview, are really hard to find. If you look at great No. 10s in the Championship over the last few seasons you've probably got Emi Buendia at Norwich and Pablo Hernandez. There's not many others - it's a very hard position to recruit," the chief exec said.
"It's a very hard position where you get goals, assists and a physical presence. The players we looked at weren't available to us or we didn't think were at the standard.
"As a club - and I mean everybody at the club - we couldn't identify a No. 10 who was going to make us stronger than we are now," Kinnear added.
The YEP understands Sallai was put forward as a credible and versatile attacking option but Leeds decided not to pursue a move.
Six-foot Sallai has 54 Hungary caps, scoring 13 times for his country and experience of German football's top flight with Freiburg over the past couple of seasons with 27 goals and 23 assists in his 163 appearances for the club.
With the Turkish transfer window still open, Sallai is free to make a switch to Galatasaray after it became apparent his contract at Freiburg would not be extended with his involvement this coming season set to be diminished.