Leeds make £8.5m offer for Ghanaian as Farke plans double deal; Bundesliga star ‘about to move’ in U-turn
Leeds United are in the process of trying to complete two more signings after sealing a deal for Joel Piroe on Thursday, according to reports.
The 24-year-old has signed a four-year deal at Elland Road which will take him to at least the end of the 2026-27 season.
The Dutch forward only had one year left on his deal at fellow Championship club Swansea City where he netted 46 times in 96 appearances across two years in south Wales.
Piroe becomes Daniel Farke’s fifth summer arrival following the signings of Ethan Ampadu, Sam Bryam, Karl Darlow and Joe Rodon earlier in the window.
And Leeds are not done there with The Athletic journalist David Ornstein claiming that the Yorkshire outfit have ‘made an offer worth €10m (£8.5m)’ for attacker Joseph Paintsil.
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‘The proposal would include a sell-on clause to the Belgian side, who are yet to respond to the offer from the Championship club.
‘If the situation does not progress soon, Leeds will turn their focus to other options.
‘Genk previously agreed a swap deal with Southampton, which would have seen Paintsil head to the Premier League club and striker Paul Onuachu go the other way, but both players turned down the move.
‘Paintsil has told Genk his preference is to join Leeds and personal terms for the 25-year-old Ghana international would not be an issue.’
Leeds are also interested in a deal for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Nadiem Amiri despite reports yesterday he had turned the Championship side down for Ligue 1 side Marseille.
As Sky Germany‘s Florian Plettenberg claimed hours later that the Germany international had changed his stance and was now open to a transfer to Leeds.
And now German newspaper Rheinische Post insist that Amiri is ‘about to move’ to Elland Road with Leverkusen willing to let him go for €6m.
Speaking after last weekend’s 1-1 draw against West Brom, Farke acknowledged that he has a “hell of a challenge” on his hands to get Leeds – who play Ipswich on Saturday – promoted back to the Premier League this season.
Farke told reporters: “It’s a hell of a challenge. We were expecting to keep a few of our quality players. We also have a few injuries to our key players which is also unlucky.
“We had to wait so long for the financial restrictions to get some incomings so it’s not been easy. Hopefully we can get better and better as the season goes. There were many encouraging signs today.
“It’s a long road, a bumpy road, a hell of a task. If it was easy then everybody would do it and I’m looking forward to this challenge.”