Leeds United, Preston North End, Burnley and Sheffield United are all in the race to sign FC Basel winger Liam Millar this summer.
Millar spent last season on loan at PNE and will certainly be well known to Leeds supporters after his performances across the two matches against the Whites, particularly at Deepdale.
The 24-year-old inflicted arguably Archie Gray’s toughest outing as a professional footballer to date, with the Leeds teenager having been left very impressed by his quality.
With just a year left remaining on his contract that also includes a release clause, Millar is almost certain to be on his way out of Basel this summer.
Leeds are one of the clubs currently watching him in action at the Copa America for Canada, where he is actually being managed by former Whites boss Jesse Marsch.
Ridsdale shares why Leeds have Millar advantage over PNE
At this stage, it is unclear how much the release clause in his deal is worth, but you would imagine Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley all have a larger financial capacity than PNE to get the deal done.
All three clubs have been relegated from the Premier League in the last 13 months and are therefore benefitting from parachute payments, something which North End aren’t.
But speaking to the Lancashire Post earlier this month, PNE chairman Peter Ridsdale has shared another reason why Leeds may hold the upper hand in the race for Millar.
Millar spent last season playing as a left-wing-back under manager Ryan Lowe, a position he no longer wants to be playing in.
Instead, Millar sees himself as more of an out-and-out winger and given the formation Daniel Farke likes to set up with, he is far more likely to do so at Elland Road.
Ridsdale said: “We are not really far down the line with Liam anyway. Liam has been very honest with us, saying he loves the club and will come back tomorrow, but wants to play left wing.
“And we have said we love him and want him back tomorrow, but we want him to play left wing-back – so there is not a meeting of the minds, necessarily.
“If he returned from holiday and said he wanted to come back, then there might be a deal to be done. But, he is not currently number one on the list we’ve got.
“Everybody asks for a fee to start with. Do I think we could do a deal if Liam said he only wants to go to Preston? Yes, I do. He has only got a year left. Whilst the number started off at a big number, I don’t think it would end up at the same number if Liam said he wanted to join us.
“That’s not the issue at the moment. To be fair to Liam, he has been very honest with us. The issue is that he aspires to play in a position we don’t naturally start with, most weeks.”
Leeds’ pursuit of Millar will hinge on Summerville and Gnonto
News of Leeds’ interest in Millar first arrived from the Athletic, and journalist Nancy Froston had a fresh update to bring on Wednesday.
Froston says that while Millar is someone Leeds are actively looking at, they will only firm up their interest if one or both of Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto leave.
She said: “He’ll be one they are looking at but if, for example, you don’t sell Summerville or Gnonto, you don’t necessarily need to bring in a winger. We are talking in those terms where it will depend on what happens with outgoings.
“He is someone they are aware of, fits that profile of a young enough player with plenty of potential. I’d be interested to see what he does in a Leeds team vs a Preston team that did well, but had a few rough parts of the season.
“I don’t know what sort of fee they [Basel] would be after, but with a year left on his contract, I don’t think it would be colossal.”