Leeds United do not look likely to sign Ryan Kent from Liverpool on deadline day, according to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay.
The former Yorkshire Evening Post reporter claimed via a live Q&A session on The Athletic website on Thursday that Leeds will be signing either Eddie Nketiah from Arsenal or Kent from Liverpool – not both.
It is understood that the Championship side have snubbed the chance to sign Kent and are instead going after Nketiah.
“As it stands, Leeds have no intention of doing both Nketiah and Ryan Kent. Both were seriously considered and both were available but Leeds have gone for Nketiah. Less than eight hours to the deadline,” said Hay.
BBC Sport journalist David Ornstein had earlier reported that Nketiah is travelling to Leeds ahead of signing a season-long loan deal at Elland Road.
Hearing Eddie Nketiah travelling to Leeds as we speak to pen season-long loan from Arsenal after #LUFC DoF Victor Orta made impressive late pitch to sell Bielsa vision & convince him to reject likes of Bristol City, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Swansea City #BristolCity #f95 #swansfc #afc
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) August 8, 2019
OPINION
It makes sense for Leeds to not want both Nketiah and Kent on loan because they already have quite a few players like them in their squad and also several players who are on loan when in the Championship you are only allowed a maximum of five loanees in a matchday squad. If Kent joined on loan then he might not have played regularly while if he did join permanently, it would have no doubt cost the Yorkshire club a lot more than it would to loan Nketiah, which seems to be what has happened here. Kent had a good season out on loan at Rangers last season and with the English transfer window now close to shutting, it’s hard to see what the future has installed for the winger. Rangers can still sign players for the next few weeks so a return to Ibrox might still be on the cards while there’s always the possibility of a move to continental Europe. Either way, the best thing for Kent to do would be to leave Liverpool because he’s going to struggle to get game-time this season.
