Report: Leeds actually wanted to sign £25m Premier League striker Guardiola says is a ‘killer in the box’

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Leeds United’s search for a new striker during the summer took them to Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City.

The Athletic report that the Nigerian international was on the Elland Road radar but they realised that the deal was not achieveable.

That is despite the fact that Leicester’s transfer window hardly ever got off the ground, and reached a logjam for most of the summer.

There was a feeling that they needed to make sales in order to get it moving, but only sold Wesley Fofana at the last, and the only spending they did was to replace him.

Leeds wanted to sign Iheanacho

But it seems that they were not willing to sell, or at least not willing to do business at a rate which would have suited Leeds.

Leicester signed Iheanacho for £25 million (as per BBC Sport) back in August 2017, and may well have wanted to turn a profit on that.

Leeds went around a few targets in the summer and on a dramatic deadline day, and ended up getting in Italian international Wilfried Gnonto.

Pep Guardiola managed Iheanacho at Manchester City and has described the hitman as a ‘killer in the box’, as well as being ‘strong and fast’.

That would have been a good way to boost Jesse Marsch’s attacking options, but Leeds always made it clear they just wanted the right player and not just a body for the sake of it.

They have to move forward without Iheanacho, who will be battling for a spot in the Leicester side alongside Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka until January at the very least.