Leeds United could quickly complete one of the signings of the summer in the Championship by landing one of their early targets.
The window officially opened for clubs to start conducting transfer business yesterday and Leeds are expected to be in for another busy summer of incomings and outgoings.
Leeds brought in nine new players a year ago as their squad underwent a vast overhaul which saw the number of departees comfortably into double figures.
While it may not be as manic as that this time around, it is again going to be another window of wheeling and dealing after their failure to secure an immediate Premier League return.
Paraag Marathe has confirmed funds will be available to spend and a few names have already been potentially linked with moving to Elland Road.
Leeds can complete one of the signings of the summer with Callum O’Hare deal
Loans and free agents have so far dominated the headlines when it comes to incomings this summer, two markets which are always useful to Championship clubs.
Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist is arguably the strongest link to date and according to journalist Ben Jacobs, he could be open to a loan switch this summer.
In terms of free transfers, if reports are to be believed, Fulham’s Bobby De Cordova-Reid, West Ham’s Ben Johnson and Coventry City’s Callum O’Hare are on Leeds’ radar.
All three of those would add significant quality to Leeds’ squad at this level but the one which would send out a statement of intent to the rest of the division is O’Hare.
The 26-year-old is regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in the Championship and scored nine goals across all competitions last season, despite missing the first three months through injury.
O’Hare is out of contract at the end of this month and is also attracting interest from Premier League sides this summer, but Leeds are reportedly well in the race.
Coventry rejected multiple big money offers from Burnley for O’Hare two years ago and so for him now to be available for no transfer fee would make him an incredible piece of business.
Leeds’ squad was short of an out-and-out number 10 last season but if they were to land him, alongside the return of Brenden Aaronson, they would all of a sudden have two brilliant options at this level for one position. That is the sort of depth needed over a 46-game season.
What has Mark Robins said about O’Hare’s future?
Of course, while O’Hare’s future remains undecided, there is still a chance of him putting pen-to-paper on a new deal at Coventry.
However, speaking after the final day of the season, Sky Blues boss Mark Robins seemed pretty resigned to losing him this summer, which is good news for Leeds’ hopes of striking a deal.
He said: “Then there’s Callum O’Hare and I have just said in the dressing room, I’m not going to give up on you. But we started laughing and I know that he’s probably going to choose somewhere else to go.
“But he’s been incredible as well and I thought the supporters were outstanding with him, as they were all the players.”