Here are your Leeds United evening headlines for Tuesday, January 19.
Liverpool watched De Paul
Liverpool have sent scouts to watch Rodrigo de Paul, who has been the subject of interest from Leeds, especially in the summer window, per Fabrizio Romano.
Leeds were said to have a bid rejected for the Udinese midfielder in the summer, and now Romano, speaking to the Que Golazo podcast, reports that Liverpool have scouted De Paul, though admitted that a move this month is unlikely.
"In this moment, Liverpool are not moving to sign De Paul in January, so we can say this is absolutely something that is completely not real," Romano said of Liverpool’s reported January interest.
"Next summer we will see because here in Italy we have rumours about Mino Raiola approaching Rodrigo De Paul as possibly his new player, so he is trying to get De Paul as his new player, and when there is Mino Raiola in the air, something big can happen.
"At the moment for Liverpool there is nothing, they sent their scouts to scout Rodrigo De Paul because we are talking about a good player, also a talented midfielder who always scores here in Serie A, but at the moment he is not a target for January."
Financial impact of FA Cup exit
Marcelo Bielsa is yet to win an FA Cup tie. That trend continued with Leeds' disappointing loss to Crawley Town in the third round earlier this month.
And the financial impact of missing out on a deep cup run could be dramatic, especially if fans return to stadiums and it resulted in qualification for European football.
As football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained to Football Insider: "It would be big but it wouldn’t hit the radar significantly from a straightforward financial perspective.
"You get £1.8million for winning the FA Cup this year, that’s the difference between finishing 12th and 11th in the Premier League. The prizes for the FA Cup this season have been halved by the Football Association as a result of Covid, so that’s put a further financial damper on it.
"What would have been good for Leeds is, if they got to the final and we were allowed to watch it, the club would have made an awful lot of money from merchandise, and clearly they would have sold out every ticket. If off the back of that they could have got into Europe… It’s 17 or 18 years since Leeds were last in Europe.
"Even in the Europa League, I would have anticipated that Leeds would have sold out Elland Road every match at home and they would take huge away followings as well."
Pulgar transfer update
CalcioMercato reports that Leeds are among three clubs interested in Fiorentina midfielder Erick Pulgar, who has been linked with a move away this month.
The report states that both Sevilla and Real Betis are also interested in the 27-year-old, who is understood to be available for a transfer this month, though any move to Leeds would be more likely in the summer.
Leeds would reportedly be willing to stump up €25 million (£22.2m) to secure Pulgar's services, though that suggestion is not cohesive with the feeling coming out of the club that January spending will be limited.
Given Bielsa's Chilean connections and Leeds' need for a central midfielder, a move for Pulgar would make some sense, though it feels as though a transfer in the next two weeks is improbable.
