Leeds confident of summer signing No 5 as Juventus ‘make call’ to sign Whites outcast
Leeds United are expected to finalise the signing of goalkeeper Michael Zetterer in the coming days after Daniel Farke’s side finally found their back-up to James Trafford, despite one of the player’s representatives moving to play down the prospects of a deal.
The Whites have spent their money wisely this summer, firming up their three biggest weaknesses as they look to climb the Premier League table in their second year back among the elite.
Harry Wilson has arrived to add some much-needed creativity in the final third, while Tarik Muharemovic has arrived as a replacement for Pascal Struijk. Best of all, Leeds have signed what many anticipate will be their best goalkeeper since the days of Nigel Martyn after splashing out a club-record fee of £40m-plus to land Trafford from Manchester City.
The Whites also signed Nico Elvedi as a quick-fire replacement for Sebastiaan Bournauw, who has joined Hamburg.
As revealed by sources earlier this week, Leeds now have three major needs before the summer window slams shut, with a back-up to Trafford, a left-sided full-back who can cover Gabriel Gudmundsson (out of the season’s opener against Nottingham Forest) and a new striker to provide competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha.
Now, a move to fix the first of those priorities is gathering pace, with Leeds in contact with Eintracht Frankfurt over a deal for Zetterer.
The experienced 31-year-old made 28 appearances for the Bundesliga side last season, and despite having three years remaining on his deal, is expected to move to England this summer after an approach from Leeds.
The Whites have secured what was described by The Athletic as a ‘broad agreement’ in place to sign Zetterer, and sources understand there is now confidence that a deal will go through in the coming days.
That’s despite Nico Pellatz, who acts as a goalkeeper consultant for the player’s agency, informing BILD that he was “very surprised by reports”.
He added: “These reports are simply untrue. Michael and his family are very happy in Frankfurt. A move is currently out of the question for him.”
Nonetheless, that move is now expected to be pushed through, with the move also freeing up Lucas Perri to make a shock move…
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Juventus make calls to land Lucas Perri
While Perri redeemed himself somewhat after some solid performances for Leeds in the FA Cup, he clearly fell short of the standards needed in the Premier League, with the Brazilian’s struggles with the ball at his feet quickly ensuring he was usurped by Karl Darlow.
After just a year at Elland Road, it’s no surprise that he’s being allowed to move on, and regular readers of TEAMtalk will have known that was Leeds’ plan since early February when we broke the news that Farke wished to bin him off and sign Trafford as his replacement.
For a good number of weeks now, Perri has looked destined to move to Torino, with the Serie A side keen to bring him to Italy and make the Brazilian their new No.1.
Talks with Leeds had been held, and while their interest was based on an initial loan with an obligation to buy, they are yet to wrap up his signing, presumably while the Whites land on their own deputy for Trafford.
However, according to fresh reports coming out of Italy on Saturday morning, Juventus have now ‘called’ Leeds ‘in the last hours’ to try and hijack their cross-city rivals’ transfer.
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Their move comes after last season’s No.1, Michael Di Gregorio, was allowed to open talks over a loan move to Bournemouth. The Italian has been usurped by Guiglielmo Vicario as the Old Lady’s first-choice stopper following his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur.
As a result, il Gazzetta dello Sport claims Juventus have now made their move to sign Perri as back-up to Vicario and hope to beat their rivals to his signature in a deal likely to be similar to the terms offered by Torino.
Ultimately, the move could come down to Perri’s personal preference: join Torino as their likely first choice, or play back-up to Vicario at Juventus.
Either way, Leeds will not stand in the player’s way of leaving after just one, largely underwhelming season at Elland Road.
