Leeds United were desperate to sign a no.10 last summer and one player The 49ers bid for has now produced more goals and assists than Elland Road favourite Crysencio Summerville.

A lack of no.10 has often been Leeds’ undoing during the 2023-24 campaign, with the need for a creative player that is able to unlock a low defensive block blatantly missing in Daniel Farke’s Leeds side at times.

To begin with, Joel Piroe was used in the role but after initially impressing the Dutchman struggled to recreate the form he had shown at Swansea and Georginio Rutter has since been used as a no.10.

But even our club-record signing has struggled of late and whichever division the Whites find themselves in next season, a new attacking midfielder is a crucial addition that The 49ers must make for Farke.

The Leeds manager was linked with plenty, with Nadfiem Amiri flying over from Germany but opting to remain at Leverkusen. Norwich star Kenny McLean has since won his side’s Player of the Season award.

Another was Celtic’s Matt O’Riley, with Leeds even tabling a bid for the Denmark star last summer. But the Hoops ace chose to stay put and it now seems O’Riley made the right decision to remain at Parkhead.

Matt O’Riley has more goals and assists than Leeds’ Summerville

But he has since been linked with bigger clubs and Fabrizio Romano claims that London-born O’Riley could cost as much as £25m. On Saturday against Hearts, he proved exactly why clubs are keen on him.

That is because O’Riley took his tally to 15 goals and 17 assists for 2023-24, a huge 32 goal involvements in just 45 Celtic outings. A number that exceeds Leeds’ best offering of 30, from Crysencio Summerville.

Celtic produced a comfortable 3-0 win over Hearts on Saturday and O’Riley was in the thick of it, laying on an assist before scoring a third for Celtic to take a step closer towards the Scottish Premiership title.

European heavyweights now want Celtic’s O’Riley ahead of Leeds

Leeds’ chances of signing O’Riley even if the club are promoted now seem slim. That is because some of Europe’s biggest clubs are beginning to show interest in O’Riley like Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.

Leeds looks as if they have missed the chance to sign O’Riley and while it was right for Leeds to show interest in landing the former MK Dons man, they should have offered more at the time to get him in.

O’Riley is likely to be on the move in the coming months as Celtic close in on a potential double, with the League title and The Scottish Cup still firmly in their sights under Brendan Rodgers, also linked with Leeds.

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