Leeds United continue to scour the market for summer additions with the emphasis heavily on signing players that have proven themselves in the Premier League.
New sporting director Adam Underwood is preparing for his first summer in such a position after Leeds opted to promote from within instead of bringing in an outsider for his position, as Nick Hammond exits.
The priority seems to be signing Premier League-hardened players with Daniel Farke in need of plenty of new players including a goalkeeper, left-back, centre-back, midfielder, winger, no.10 and centre-forward.
Just recently, Leeds have been linked with Man City star James McAtee, West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal and Liverpool’s Konstantinos Tsimikas. Now, they could sign a player from Angus Kinnear’s side.
Leeds and Roma do battle for out-of-contract Everton player
Journalist Rory Smith had suggested Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure as a sensible signing for Leeds this summer, and now it appears Leeds do have some interest in signing the 32-year-old star on a free.
Doucoure is out of contract in June and looks as though he will leave Kinnear’s new side. The Mali star has clocked up over 250 Premier League appearances for both Everton and Watford, a huge 277 in total.
A report from Africa Foot now says Leeds are rivalling Italian giants AS Roma for Doucoure’s signature. It sees The Friedkin Group, who have bought Everton, look to take Doucoure to their other owned club.
Abdoulaye Doucoure is the perfect summer addition for Leeds
Before the 2024-25 season, Leeds lacked goals from midfield. That has changed in Ao Tanaka, but the Japan star is most-effective as a deep-lying playmaker and Leeds lack a real box-to-box midfielder.
That changes with the signing of Doucoure. Certainly, Leeds lack numbers in the middle of the park after the retained list confirmed that Josuha Guilavogui will leave on a free and Joe Rothwell leaves after a loan.
Doucoure’s huge Premier League experience as well as his 51 goals and assists makes him the perfect suit for Leeds this summer, while also saving The Whites money to go and spend on other areas of the squad.
