"Interest in him..": Sky Sports drop Leeds transfer claim on-air, fans will be buzzing - opinion

Leeds United are interested in signing Takumi Minamino on deadline day…

That’s according to Sky Sports transfer expert and reporter Dharmesh Sheth, who delivered a fresh claim live on-air to ‘The Transfer Show’ ahead of deadline day.

“Liverpool ideally would like to balance the books, there are three players who could leave,” he said [30/01, 18:11pm].

“The first one is Minamino, there’s been interest in him from Leeds and Monaco. Liverpool value him at £20m, he could be a possible departure.”

It’s largely expected that the Yorkshire giants will not conduct any business today, having missed out on no.1 priority, attacking midfielder Brenden Aaronson, who RB Salzburg are refusing to sell this month.

He will surely be revisited in the summer after the Premier League outfit had a pair of bids (£15m and £20m) rejected.

But manager Marcelo Bielsa is desperate for players now. He is dealing with quite the injury crisis at Elland Road and he needs reinforcements to ensure that they do not slip into a relegation battle.

Last month, that looked to be a real possibility following heavy defeats against Arsenal and Man City, all whilst having as many as 11 first-team players absent through injury.

Things have turned a corner since on the pitch but off it, it’s still looking very gloomy.

Last season’s top goalscorer, Patrick Bamford, has missed 17 of their last 18 league games and his exploits in the final third have been sorely missed, whilst club captain Liam Cooper and integral anchorman Kalvin Phillips aren’t expected back until March, at the earliest.

The lack of depth is also summed up by the fact that they have not signed a central midfielder in four years (eight transfer windows).

Minamino would be an intriguing alternative to