The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 31st October) - O'Brien & Kent Back on Leeds United's Radar
Good Morning. It's Thursday 31st October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Leeds line up O'Brien loan deal in New Year
Leeds are believed to be interested in bringing Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O'Brien on loan to Elland Road in January. The 26 year old is currently on loan with MLS outfit Los Angeles, who have topped the MLS Western conference table, and qualified for the MLS Cup play-offs. Their season finishes in December, when he will return to the Tricky Trees.
Given Forests strength in depth, O'Brien is likely to be sent out to a lower Premier League or top Championship side in the New Year. His combative performances and box to box dominance have earnt the former Huddersfield Town a host of admirers including Southampton, Stoke, Sheffield Utd and Hull City.
O'Brien has been regularly linked with Leeds over the years, causing (more) bad blood between the Whites and Phil Hodgkinson. The former Huddersfield Town Chairman even bragged he rejected a bid of £13m from the Whites. He then went on to sell both O'Brien and Harry Toffolo to Nottingham Forest for a fixed fee of £10m.
Leeds currently have space for three loanee's. Their failure to use the system properly last season was an instrumental factor why Daniel Farke's side fell apart towards the end of the season winning just four games from their last eleven. Let's hope they learn by their mistakes.
Leeds agree multi year extension with Adidas
Leeds United are understood to have agreed a new multi-year deal with Adidas to continue as the club’s official kit partner. Adidas took over from Kappa as Leeds’ kit supplier during the lead-up to the 2020-21 season. Up until that point, the Whites had been negotiating with Nike and Under Armour; only for Adidas to come along with a record breaking deal for the Whites.
Leeds’ kit revenue for the 2022-23 season ranked the 16th-highest in Europe, according to a UEFA club finance report, with the club making €34million (£28.8m; $36.5m) from kit and merchandising sales.
This season’s Adidas away kit, which featured a return to the club’s ‘smiley’ badge’, sold 15,000 shirts in the first day, the most shirts sold in the opening 24 hours of any Leeds strip in history. As the club’s kit partner, Adidas will continue to produce both playing and training kits.
Leeds could offer Kent lifeline
Ryan Kent could be offered a Thorp Arch trial after his contract with Turkish outfit was cancelled by mutual consent earlier this month. The 27 year old felt ostracised by the Super Lig giants after falling out with former coach Ismail Kartal, then being totally ignored by new boss Jose Mourinho. Fenerbahce were keen to avoid the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and offered Kent a way out.
His career has been floundering for the past few, seasons, yet if he can rekindle the kind of form that made him a top target during Marcelo Bielsa's tenure, Leeds could strike gold! Injuries this season to Ramazani, James, Solomon, Struijk, Gruev, Ampadu and Wober have left Leeds short in crucial positions. The former England youth player is a free agent and available now!