Leicester City ‘hopeful’ of deal to sign Leeds United winger Jack Harrison
The Athletic’s Phil Hay has suggested Leicester City are “hopeful” a deal will fall into place with Leeds United for winger Jack Harrison.
Hay has suggested there’s “enough whispering” in the East Midlands regarding Harrison and that Leeds’ Premier League rivals could strike a deal.
With Harrison, his contract ends in 18 months’ time. He’s beyond the age now where he will provide any compensation when his deal expires and if he gets into the last 12 months then his value decreases drastically,”.
“Leeds quite often delay contract talks so they don’t get tangled up in transfers. What normally happens is the January window closes and then contract talks can start. My understanding is that the plan is to get Harrison tied down to a new contract when the window ends.
“There’s a reluctance to sell to Leicester because of where they are in the table. The acceptance that Leicester would pay him more and there’s enough whispering about this at the Leicester end to make me think Leicester are quietly hopeful that this will fall into place.”
Risk
There are a number of elements to this deal which make it an interesting scenario. Leicester could offer the Leeds winger better wages and they potentially would be willing to fork out a relatively big transfer fee. We know the board have been ambitious in recent windows and they may be looking to recoup some of their expenditure.
If Leicester make a big offer, it could be too good an opportunity for Leeds to turn down. However, the Foxes are in the relegation conversation and potentially strengthening a rival is a bad move at this point in the season.
Allowing the January window to come to a close and then reassessing the situation in the summer would potentially be a smarter move from the board.
Harrison’s performances haven’t been good in the 2022/23 season and he potentially needs to do more to display that he is still invested in the long-term project at Elland Road. This is certainly one to keep an eye on.
