Leeds United have made a transfer of their bid to carry Jose Cifuentes to Elland Highway this summer season.
What’s the discuss?
That’s in keeping with a report by Ecuadorean media outlet BOLA VIP, who declare that, following numerous studies linking Victor Orta with a transfer for the Los Angeles FC midfielder in current weeks, the Spaniard has now tabled a £5m provide for the 23-year-old Ecuador worldwide.
Nonetheless, the report goes on to state that the Whites will not be the one European membership within the companies of Cifuentes, with each Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester Metropolis additionally hoping to carry the midfielder to the Premier League this summer season, whereas Italian aspect SS Napoli are additionally regarded as eager on a transfer for the LAFC dynamo within the coming weeks.
Marsch wants him
Whereas it’s true that Orta has already added numerous central midfielders to Jesse Marsch’s first-team squad this summer season, contemplating the truth that each Tyler Adams and Marc Roca are primarily defensively-minded gamers, the 48-year-old would nonetheless look like in want of a midfielder within the quantity eight function.
This can be a function it’s clear that Cifuentes would be capable to fulfil with ease, because the 23-year-old has greater than confirmed for LAFC up to now this season that he can hyperlink up play in transition, chip in with objectives and in addition put within the onerous yards defensively.
Certainly, over his 22 MLS fixtures in 2021, the £5.85m-rated expertise has scored six objectives, registered 5 assists and created six huge possibilities for his teammates, in addition to taking a median of two.0 pictures, making 1.1 key passes and finishing 1.8 dribbles per recreation.
The £6.1k-per-week midfielder has additionally made a median of two.0 tackles, 0.5 interceptions, 29 passes, 1.5 lengthy balls and gained 5.0 duels per fixture, with these returns seeing the eight-cap worldwide common an attention-grabbing SofaScore match ranking of 7.10 – rating him as his membership’s joint third-best performer within the league.
Moreover, South American soccer skilled Tim Vickery is clearly an enormous fan of the Ecuadorean, stating on talkSPORT of Cifuentes’ affect in Ecuador’s spectacular U20 World Cup run:
“He was the beating coronary heart of that aspect and I feel he’s a terrific midfielder. He’s robust, he’s acquired high quality, he’s acquired a very good engine – he’s among the finest all-round midfielders, probably, that I’ve seen come out of South America shortly.
“Get him, signal him on! Ecuadorians are solely simply starting to forge careers in Europe. Typically the variation for them isn’t straightforward… however this fellow Cifuentes strikes the ball effectively, strikes throughout the sphere, robust within the sort out, robust on the ball, I like him lots.”
As such, contemplating the profile of the LAFC midfielder may be very a lot one which Marsch is missing in his Leeds squad – significantly if Mateusz Klich goes on to go away the membership this summer season – it will seem that the signing of the 23-year-old could be a really welcome one certainly for the 48-year-old supervisor.
