Report: Club willing to sell Leeds-linked £100k-a-week striker as Champions League side joins race

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Leeds United have been heavily linked with Belgium international striker Michy Batshuayi in recent weeks.

The Get French Football News Twitter account claimed on August 4 that the Chelsea forward was one of “literally hundreds of players being proposed to Director of Football Victor Orta“.

A report from Belgian outlet HLN on August 17 then claimed that the Blues offered Batshuayi to Leeds, who were considering whether to invest £22.6million in the 26-year-old.

However, a player of Batshuayi’s quality is always going to have plenty of reported suitors, with West Ham and Crystal Palace also being linked in recent days.

Now, The Express has claimed that Serie A side Atalanta have begun talks on a deal to sign the Belgian forward on loan for this coming season, with a possible option to buy at the end of the campaign.

The report adds that Chelsea are ready to sell Batshuayi, with his contract – reportedly worth £100,000-a-week – set to expire in 2021 and the Blues wanting to avoid losing him on a free.

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Batshuayi is a high-calibre player who, despite his lack of game time at Chelsea, has shown he has what it takes to shine at the top level.

In 325 competitive first-team club games, he has registered 120 goals and 30 assists, and has played in Europe’s biggest leagues as well as in European competition.

That’s before looking at his exploits at international level – 29 caps for Belgium, 16 goals, and appearances at the World Cup and the Euros.

Batshuayi has also played under Marcelo Bielsa before, so he should be able to hit the ground running at Elland Road.

On the other hand, he’d likely have to take a paycut at Leeds as paying a salary in the region £100,000-a-week is surely too steep for a side that has just been promoted to the Premier League.

And of course, there could be very strong competition from a side which not only reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2019-20 but will be in the competition next year after finishing third in Serie A this term.