Leeds United calmly reminded us of a step-up in quality from the championship to the Premier League, seeing the recent transfer saga unfold.
Liverpool officially confirmed Florian Wurtz’s permanent signature from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday at a reported fee that could rise to a UK record of £116 million.
Meanwhile, white people have never spent more than £35.5 million to sign players. Their current record is the £35.5 million he paid to sign Giorginio Rutter from Hoffenheim in the beginning of 2023.
The rutter completed his transition to Brighton & Hove Albion last summer after scoring eight goals and providing 18 assists in 66 games in West Yorkshire outfits.
Leeds is on the market to sign a central midfielder, with interest in Strasbourg’s Habib Diala and Club Bruges’ Rafael Oniedica.
They show how much the top midfielder in the Premier League is going for, but Arsenal is set to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedaddo on the Spanish side for a reported fee of £56 million.
Leeds United’s current midfield options
At this moment, Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev and Tanaka are Daniel Fark’s only senior central midfield options ahead of the 2025/26 campaign after Joe Rothwell returns to Bournemouth.
Ampadu is often used as a centre-back option by German head coaches. This could leave Gruev and Tanaka as two midfielders in his 4-2-3-1 system as the Welsh International Slots enter the back 4.
However, there are questions about whether the two midfielders have the physicality to compete for a week a week in their relegation scraps in the Premier League.
Before each move to Elland Road, both Gruev and Tanaka were in Germany and the Bundesliga 2. He played in the Bundesliga and showed signs that he might not be able to handle his physical step-up into the Premier League.
statistics | Gruev (22/23 Bundesliga) | Tanaka (23/24 2 Bundesliga) |
|---|---|---|
exterior | 31 | 30 |
Accuracy | 87% | 89% |
Tackle + Intercept per game | 2.1 | 2.0 |
Success rate for ground dueling | 53% | 49% |
Success rate for air duel | 43% | 49% |
Statistics via Sofascore | ||
As you can see in the table above, they both remained a bit as physically desired in Germany’s top two divisions, especially when it comes to competing in air battles.
This may be why white people are keen to add more physicality to the midfield by bringing new options to that area of the park.
Leeds is monitoring Ligue 1 Enforcer contract
According to Givemesport, Leeds United are lined up contracts to sign Stade de Reims defensive midfielder Valentin Atangana during the summer transfer period.
The report claims that the whites are aiming at the talented 19-year-old enforcer, who has been relegated to France’s second division this season.
Givemesport adds that Championship champions are keen to do business as soon as possible, and that the French starlet has emerged as one of the radar options to pursue a new central midfielder.
The outlet says that whites are keen to secure his services this summer, after realising that he is now available in the market for his relegation to Raig 2.
It also forwards the proposal that players could potentially be used at a bargain price of around £9 million as Reams is trying to rake in money after he drops out of League One.
The report also claims that Leeds is weighing its current state whether or not they will take part in negotiations over a deal to bring teenage talent to West Yorkshire before the end of the window.
Why should Leeds sign Valentin Athangana?
White people need to approach Reims to sign a deal for the 19-year-old star. Because he can arrive as a Zubimendi version of Zubimendi, who is scheduled to join Arsenal for £56 million, to enhance the physicality of the midfield.
According to FBREF, Spain International is one of the players most similar to Atangana, based on the statistics of League 1 and Lariga respectively over the past 365 days.
As you can see from the chart above, they are both excellent in pretty similar areas of the game, especially defensively, with similar success rates in tackle and air combat.
Zubimendi ended the Lariga season with a 56% success rate in ground duel and a 62% success rate in air combat, but Atangana won 53% of his ground duel and 58% of League One air battles.
Celebrated as “exceptional” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, the French U19 International caught his eye on France’s top flight from a defensive standpoint despite his team being demoted.
He played for a poor team, so it was their relegation, but still showed his physicality and quality. A great example is his performance against PSG in the Coupe de France final. He won seven of nine duels and completed all three dribbles, including Joao Neves and Vitinha, but his team lost 3-0.
24/25 League 1 | Valentin Atangana around 90 | Percentile Rank vs. Midfielder |
|---|---|---|
clearance | 2.02 | Top 19% |
A duel won | 1.48 | Top 8% |
The percentage of dribblers worked on | 73.7% | Top 2% |
Lost challenges | 0.32 | Top 2% |
The shot was blocked | 0.47 | Top 14% |
Intercept | 1.17 | Top 33% |
Forbidden | 0.73 | Top 23% |
Statistics via FBREF | ||
As you can see in the table above, Atangana was highly ranked among his positional peers in many key defensive metrics in League One, especially when he scored Aerial Duells and held back the opposition players.
He rarely allowed dribblers to get over him, as demonstrated by his success rate in tackles and how few challenges he lost.
The teenage talent could therefore be Zubimendi’s Fark’s own version as a defensive midfielder who showed he could be trusted in physical contests under pressure in one of Europe’s top leagues.
It is a wise move by Leeds for just £9 million to prove his quality on top flights in France and sign the 19-year-old talent comparable to Zubimendi at £56 million, something that must be pursued in the coming weeks.
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