Report: Leeds now battling two other clubs to sign 26-year-old who's been voted better than Mbappe

By Shamanth Jayaram

Newcastle United have been heavily linked with a move for Lens midfielder Seko Fofana and they now have Leeds United and Burnley battling them for his signature.

That’s according to The Daily Mail, who claim that Marcelo Bielsa and Sean Dyche are both big fans of the Ivory Coast midfielder.

Newcastle are expected by many to be the most active side in the transfer window. They have started well with the incomings of Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood, but they are far from done.

They are looking for another striker, a centre-half and a midfielder, and the latter could well be Fofana. But, it won’t be easy now.

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Leeds United and Burnley join Newcastle in the race to sign Seko Fofana

The report claims that Leeds and Newcastle United remain interested in Fofana, but it’s Dyche’s Burnley who have entered talks with Lens to seal a deal for the fantastic midfielder.

Fofana has been absolutely incredible for Lens over the last year. He has dominated their midfield in most games, even against the best side in the country Paris Saint-Germain, against whom he won the Man of the Match award not too long ago.

It’s only a matter of time before Fofana leaves Lens, but who he’ll pick out of Leeds, Newcastle and Burnley if they all make an offer is anyone’s guess at this moment in time.

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Fofana is better than Mbappe and Neymar

We know what you’re thinking, comparing a midfielder to two attackers is pretty silly. We’re not directly comparing Fofana to Mbappe or Neymar, we’re just talking about how good they’ve been over the last 12 months.

French outlet GFFN release a list of 100 players at the end of each year, ranking them from one to 100. Mbappe and Neymar are the favourites every time, but Fofana beat them both to the crown in the 2021 edition of the list. (Read here)

That recognition shows just how good the Ivorian has been in the French top-flight since the start of last year. It is no surprise that multiple clubs want him, but whether Leeds can beat the other two sides for his signature will be very interesting to see.

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