There’s more information regarding Leeds’ stance on former Nottingham Forest veteran Cheikhou Kouyaté, which began this weekend with a report from Football Insider.
According to their information on Sunday, Leeds backed out of the deal for the midfielder. The club had been in talks with Kouyaté’s camp, but they’ve now decided to end discussions.
Leeds are without Ethan Ampadu, who is out for the remainder of 2024 due to a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) injury, and while it’s a serious setback, it’s not as severe as an ACL tear. As for Ilia Gruev, he is set to miss several months as he underwent surgery for a meniscus injury.
Now, on Tuesday, Football Insider reported that the Whites have reversed their decision on this file. Their information reveals that Kouyate is undergoing a medical at Leeds Tuesday after the club decided to sign him.
However, the reason behind Leeds’ change of heart isn’t clear. It will be interesting to see if the deal gets done this week. It’s possible there was some internal debate about their midfield depth, leading them to reconsider, knowing they can’t bring in reinforcements until January.
More information regarding Leeds signing Cheikhou Kouyaté
Kouyaté has a big challenge ahead as he works to prove his fitness to Daniel Farke, with Leeds still considering a potential move for the free-agent midfielder, according to Graham Smyth of the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“Kouyaté, from Boxing Day 2023, played six minutes for Forest in the second-half of last season so it’s difficult,” Smyth told the YEP’s Inside Elland Road podcast last week. “The match fitness thing is probably Farke’s biggest concern. You have to say with a player like that, it’s not even as if he were playing regularly until May and has then had a few months off.
“You’re actually saying he last played regular minutes, last season was so sporadic with 208 minutes across the entire season so you’d actually have to go back to the 2022/23 season and even then he had a big lay-off with a hamstring injury. The difficulty is extreme.”
With club football resuming this week, this file will only get more confusing as Leeds ponder whether to sign the midfielder or not.
