Daniel James is ‘close to a permanent switch to Leeds’ with the Manchester United winger falling down the pecking order after the arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho
- Manchester United have a number of players that they are looking to move on
- Wales winger Daniel James is among those believed to be eligible to depart
- Leeds are reportedly closing in on a permanent deal to sign the 23-year-old
Leeds United are reportedly in advanced talks with bitter rivals Manchester United over a permanent deal for Daniel James.
The Wales winger almost moved to Elland Road two years ago from Swansea before the deal collapsed late on.
But now with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo limiting James’ minutes even further, the Guardian report that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are closing in on a permanent deal.
Daniel James is reportedly close to making a permanent exit from Manchester United to Leeds
The return of Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and signing of Jadon Sancho (right) limits his minutes
The 23-year-old has been used sparingly by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and along with the return of Ronaldo, the £73million move for Jadon Sancho pushes him down the pecking order.
James started the 1-0 win away at Wolves on Sunday but he now looks close to an Old Trafford exit as negotiations are reportedly ongoing to finalise a fee, as well as personal terms over a deal in Yorkshire.
He has three years left to run on his deal in Manchester and the expectation is that they will ask for a fee in the region of £20m.
Many saw how James’ loan move from Swansea to Leeds collapsed with minutes left of the transfer window in 2019.
James (right) is likely to fall victim to United’s bloated attack following their summer business
Amazon Prime’s ‘Take Us Home: Leeds United‘ documentary showcased extraordinary never-before-seen footage of the botched transfer – with the deal pulled by Swansea very late on.
Speaking to his ex-Swansea team-mate Kenji Gorre on the ‘Living The Dream‘ podcast, James revealed his anger when he learned the move was off.
‘Leeds were offering me four years,’ he said. ‘The Amazon Prime documentary shows what happened: I got there in the morning, my agent said things could go to the wire, I did all the scans and medical stuff.
‘I got to Elland Road about 6pm, did all the pictures with my shirt, all the interviews, because they wanted it to go out in the morning, and then it was strange.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has been an admirer of the Welsh international for many years
‘It got to about 9pm and I’d signed all the papers and then it was from club-to-club. I had people texting me saying “what’s happening” and I literally didn’t know. It wasn’t until 15 minutes to go until I thought: “this might not happen now.”
‘I ended up ringing the chairman [of Swansea] to ask him what’s happening. It was all a bit crazy and then it wasn’t done – I threw my phone.
‘I thought it’s not real. The chief exec of Leeds wasn’t happy at the time, but then it was just a case of driving home. It was a very weird situation and I think it helped me in some ways.’
If this potential switch to Leeds goes through without any hiccups he could look to make his debut at home against Liverpool on September 12.
