Fabrizio Romano reveals "done deal" for £25m Leeds target, supporters will be gutted - opinion

Fabrizio Romano has dropped an update on the future of reported Leeds United transfer target Luka Jovic.

In a recent post on Twitter, the Italian journalist revealed that, despite Victor Orta reportedly making contact with the Real Madrid centre-forward in order to propose a move to Leeds this summer, the 24-year-old is now set to join AFC Fiorentina on a permanent deal – with the Serbia international rejecting the likes of West Ham United, Brentford and the Whites in the process.

In his tweet, Romano said: “Luka Jovic to Fiorentina, deal done. Full agreement on permanent deal, after long negotiations for a loan – Jovic will sign until June 2024 with an option for two more years. Real Madrid will have sell-on clause around 50%.”

Considering just how talented a player Jovic undoubtedly is, in addition to it being reported that the signing of a new centre-forward is one of Orta’s priorities in the summer transfer window, Romano’s update that the striker is now set for a move to Italy is sure to have left the Elland Road faithful gutted.

While it is true that, following his €60m (£52.4m) move to Madrid back in the summer of 2019, things did not exactly pan out for the 24-year-old – scoring just three goals and registering five assists over 51 appearances for Los Blancos – the £14.4m-rated talent has nevertheless proven earlier in his career just how impressive an addition he would have made to Leeds’ attacking arsenal in 2022/23.

Indeed, over two separate spells with Eintracht Frankfurt, the £152k-per-week forward highly impressed, scoring 40 goals and registering ten assists over 93 appearances for the Bundesliga side – averaging a direct goal contribution every 107 minutes of football played for Die Adler.

Furthermore,