Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for June 18.
Leeds learn Ayala salary requirements
Marcelo Bielsa’s side have been linked with a move for Middlesbrough centre-back Dani Ayala ahead of next season, with the Spanish defender earmarked as a major upgrade if Leeds return to the top flight.
He is out of contract this summer at the Riverside Stadium and had been offered a new deal but turned his current club down after only being offered “reduced wages” in an “insulting” deal, according to Football Insider.
The suggestion is that Ayala was open to remaining at the northeast club if they offered him an improvement on his current £20,000-a-week deal.
As such, that might be the figure Leeds need to look at if they want to land him on a free this summer.
Harrison offers insight to future
Jack Harrison has been a key player for Leeds this season in their push for promotion back to the Premier League.
United have an agreement with Manchester City that they can make his loan permanent for around £8million, then it would be up to the winger to decide his future - and he has given the Elland Road club plenty of reason to be optimistic about his answer.
“It’s been great for my development [at Leeds],” Harrison said on Zoom. “As a player, it’s hard for me to say why I wouldn’t want to come back here.
“There’s no reason why I should say ‘no I don’t want to stay here next season’.
“Hopefully, if it’s in the Premier League, then even better. Fingers crossed that happens.”
The 23-year-old is set to continue playing a big part as Leeds restart their campaign and look to finish the job of returning to the top flight.
Leeds’ not-so-subtle tweet to Villa
Of all the potential issues that could have gone wrong in the Premier League’s first game back, few imagined goal-line technology would be one of them.
That’s exactly what happened though, with the system failing to recognise that Villa keeper Orjan Nyland had carried the ball over the line and Sheffield United should have been awarded a goal - but instead play continued and the two sides drew 0-0.
Leeds’ official Twitter account quickly sent out a message to that of Aston Villa, including the hashtag #fairplay as a reminder of the Elland Road club’s intervention in that regard last season.
Back then, Marcelo Bielsa instructed his team to allow Villa to walk through unimpeded and score a goal, after Leeds themselves had netted while a player was down injured, earning them a FIFA Fair Play Award.
