'Seen enough' - £12m Leeds United star tipped for top-flight transfer by club legend
Joel Piroe's future at Leeds United beyond this summer remains uncertain.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist has tipped Leeds United striker Joel Piroe to move north of the border this summer.
Piroe has endured a difficult season having fallen behind summer arrivals Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha in the No.9 pecking order. The 2024/25 Championship Golden Boot winner hasn’t started a Premier League game since August, boasts one FA Cup goal and has missed three penalties either in normal time or shootouts.
Daniel Farke’s desire to sign another striker in January, as evidenced by a bid for then-Wolves frontman Jorgen Strand Larsen, painted a bleak picture for Piroe going forward. Attacking reinforcements will be revisited this summer and should Leeds survive, it is hard to see anything but a reduction in minutes for the Suriname international.
The YEP reported in January that Piroe had several suitors, both in the Championship and abroad, with reports elsewhere naming Rangers as a potential destination for the striker. And McCoist, who has also been full of praise for Leeds, reckons the former Swansea City man would rediscover his scoring form at Ibrox.
"Joel Piroe would be a great signing for Rangers," McCoist told talkSPORT, via the Daily Record. "He probably hasn't done as well as you'd have hoped in the Premier League, but I've seen enough of him. As a Rangers supporter, I wouldn't mind that at all. I think he could certainly do a job up here. I think he'd adapt to this football as well.
“On current form, [Leeds] are looking terrific, really are. They can end up having a brilliant season. I watched them at Old Trafford where I thought they were brilliant, particularly first half. Then they came flying out the traps and effectively won the game in the first 25 minutes, at the weekend there [vs Wolves]. A massive, massive club, Leeds obviously. Goes without saying.”
Leeds United and Rangers links amid Joel Piroe speculation
Should Rangers pursue a move for Piroe this summer, negotiations would be expected to run smoother than usual given the links between themselves and Leeds. 49ers Enterprises, who have been in charge at Elland Road since 2023, took over at Ibrox last summer with Whites chairman Paraag Marathe initially taking on a vice-chairman role north of the border - a role he has since stepped down from.
49ers Enterprises remain in control at Rangers and their position was the reason a January loan request for Piroe from fierce rivals Celtic was met with bemusement. Leeds and the Scottish outfit are two separate operations with two sets of day-to-day decision makers, but enjoy a close working relationship.
Should Leeds sanction an exit for Piroe this summer, it is likely they will want to sell. Having spent £12million in total on the striker - £10m initially plus a £2m bonus to Swansea following promotion - amortised over a four-year contract in 2023, they effectively have £3m book value left on their finisher, with any sale above that banking a PSR profit.
Despite his lack of starts, Piroe now has over a dozen Premier League appearances to his name and recent acclaim to being the Championship’s top-goalscorer with 19 goals in 46 games. The striker is also an international now, having made his Suriname debut during the March break, making it likely an offer comfortably above that £3m benchmark will arrive.