The Whites apparently want to sign the Premier League midfielder.
Leeds United are now competing for automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, after being relegated last year.
The Whites currently lead the Championship after defeating Millwall 2-0 at Elland Road on Sunday, while Leicester City were engaged with FA Cup activity.
Wilfried Gnonto’s spectacular left-footed strike from distance, and Dan James’ calm finish from close range, sealed the victory either side of the break.
Despite the fact that Ipswich Town and Southampton remain in the battle to finish in the top two and gain automatic promotion out of the league, the Whites are allegedly looking into prospective moves to bolster their squad if they make it out of the Championship.
Daniel Farke’s side is reportedly planning a move to capture a Premier League player who has appeared in the Champions League this season…
Leeds United Transfer News
According to a report in the Sunday Mirror (17 March, page 66), via Sports View, the German head coach is interested in signing Sean Longstaff from Newcastle United.
According to the outlet, the Championship club is interested in bringing the English central midfielder to Elland Road at the end of the season, should they are promoted to the top flight.
It adds that Longstaff’s present contractual condition may allow the club to jump in for a £15 million cost because his current contract expires in the summer of 2025.
This means that the Magpies academy graduate will only have 12 months left on his contract at the conclusion of the season, which might allow Leeds to make a play for him, as Eddie Howe’s side may not want to risk losing him for nothing next year.
It does, however, suggest that Newcastle have undertaken preliminary conversations with the midfielder about a potential contract extension at St. James’ Park. It remains to be seen whether the Whites’ interest is enough to persuade Longstaff to leave his boyhood club ahead of the 2024/25 season.
The 49ers must now be wary as they look set to repeat the error former owner Andrea Radrizzani made with the signing of Weston McKennie in January of last year.
The USA international, like Longstaff, was a midfielder who did not have a significant effect in or out of possession on a consistent basis, therefore his presence did not assist them avoid relegation from the Premier League last season.
Weston McKennie’s time at Leeds in numbers
The Whites swooped to recruit McKennie on loan from Italian giants Juventus in the middle of the 2022/23 season, with the option to make the deal permanent for £30 million in the summer.
Radrizzani reportedly agreed to pay a loan fee of €1.25 million (£1 million) for the American lightweight. However, it remained unclear how much of his £75k per week salary was reimbursed by Leeds during his six-month stay in Yorkshire.
Regardless of how much the agreement cost the club, the former owner made a poor decision by signing the midfielder, who struggled throughout his stint in the Premier League.
McKennie’s play out of possession had a much to be desired, as he was dribbled past (1.1) nearly as often as he completed tackles (1.4) per game, indicating that opposition players found it too simple to drive past him in midfield.
He also lost 57% of his duels and 61% of his battles on the field across 19 Premier League games and 16 starts, as his opponents often outperformed him in physical challenges.
| Weston McKennie vs midfielders | |
|---|---|
| Premier League (per 90) | Percentile rank |
| Expected Assisted Goals (0.04) | Bottom 20% |
| Shot-creating actions (1.82) | Bottom 27% |
| Pass accuracy (75.2%) | Bottom 20% |
| Progressive carries (0.88) | Bottom 29% |
| Progressive passes (5.14) | Top 42% |
| Stats via FBref | |
As the table above shows, the 25-year-old dud performed below average in a variety of critical possession stats. He was marginally over average as a progressive passer while being one of the division’s poorest midfielders at creating chances and finding his teammates with passes.
Why Sean Longstaff might become the next Weston McKennie
The 49ers may repeat the club’s error of signing McKennie to ‘bolster’ their midfielder by adding Longstaff, who has likewise struggled on and off the ball for Newcastle in the Premier League this season.
His form with the Magpies in the 2023/24 season does not suggest he would be a wise addition to the Whites, especially for a sum of £15 million at the age of 26.
Longstaff, who made five appearances in the Champions League group stage, is currently ranked in the bottom 14% of Premier League midfielders for shot-creating actions (1.61), the bottom 39% for Expected Assisted Goals (0.08), and the bottom 17% for progressive carries (0.66) per 90 minutes.
This demonstrates that, like McKennie, the Toon dud lacks imagination and advancement in possession from a central midfield position.
| Premier League | Weston McKennie – 22/23 | Sean Longstaff – 23/24 |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 19 | 25 |
| Key passes per game | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Tackles per game | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Duels won per game | 3.7 | 3.3 |
| Duel success rate | 43% | 47% |
| Dribbled past per game | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Stats via Sofascore | ||
As shown in the table above, both players rarely create chances for their teams and perform below average in physical duels. They also allow players to dribble by them and attack their team’s defence more than once each game on average.
These data reveal that both midfielders are physically weak and do not have exceptional skills in or out of possession in midfield, as they are dribbled past far too frequently in proportion to the number of tackles they make and do not produce much for their teams.
Therefore, the 49ers might land McKennie 2.0 if they swoop to get the Newcastle lightweight for Farke in the summer, should Leeds achieve promotion to the Premier League, and it could be £15 million wasted before they kick a ball in the top tier, which is why they should shun this prospective move.
