Good evening, Leeds fans. Here are your evening headlines for Saturday, July 25.
Leeds tracking River Plate ace
Leeds are interested in Lucas Martínez Quarta, according to a report in Argentina.
The 24-year-old defender is on the books of River Plate and will no doubt be familiar to Marcelo Bielsa.
And according to Argentine outlet El Intransigente, Leeds are winning the race to sign the defender.
Quarta has caught the eye of several big European clubs with his performances for River and is now in the final 12 months of his contract with the club.
It is claimed that has a release clause of £19.5million but River will entertain offers closer to £12million to guarantee a sale.
Any bid for the defender will come with rivals nearby, with Inter and AC Milan, Fiorentina, Real Betis and Valencia all eager to take the defender on.
The report says Leeds are the only team to ask for the player so far and he would be open to making the move.
Radrizzani finally opens birthday gift
The news that Leeds had confirmed promotion to the Premier League sparked huge celebrations at Elland Road and across the city.
A 16-year stay in the Football League was now over, and it meant everything to the players, staff, and fans.
It also allowed Andrea Radrizzani to finally open a birthday present that he’d been given way back in 2017 – a huge Nebuchadnezzar bottle of Tattinger champagne.
Angus Kinnear was speaking at the Elland Road end-of-season awards when he discussed Radrizzani and presented him with a gift he bought during his first year at the club that was only to be opened after promotion was achieved.
“After years of I think what could be best described as mediocre ownership we have someone who is who is a leader, he is a custodian, he believes in the future of the club in the long term,” Kinnear said, paying tribute to the 45-year-old.
Merson warns Premier League sides ahead of Leeds return
Paul Merson has expressed his excitement at the return of Leeds to the Premier League and has insisted the club will upset plenty of sides next term.
The Whites ended a 16-year stay in the Football League by winning the Championship and will now return to life in the top flight.
Leeds fans will be sampling the Premier League in just seven weeks and now former Arsenal and Aston Villa star Merson has expressed his excitement at seeing Elland Road back in the big time.
“I’m delighted Leeds are back in the Premier League – and some clubs had better look out,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Star.
“I used to love playing at Elland Road. I don’t know why, but I always used to play well when I went up there, and it was one of those grounds I enjoyed being at.
“The fans were respectful, but it could also be an intimidating place to play. The noise was huge and there won’t be too many better atmospheres around the top flight next season than the one at Leeds, let me tell you.
“So a lot of teams will find it a difficult place to go – and it could take some of them a while to work Leeds out.
“It will take teams some time to get used to playing against them because they press hard to win the ball back, although they’ve gone up a level now so it will be interesting to see what approach manager Marcelo Bielsa takes.”
You can read more from Merson here.
