Leeds United keen on £6m loan-to-buy January transfer for La Liga midfielder | OneFootball

Promotion hopefuls, Leeds, are planning on signing Sporting Lisbon midfielder, Dario Essugo.

Leeds United are plotting a January transfer raid for promising Sporting CP midfielder Dario Essugo.

That is according to journalist Alan Nixon via his Patreon account, which claims that the West Yorkshire outfit wish to offer a loan to buy agreement for the player in the middle of their battle for Championship promotion.

The 19-year-old has been on loan in Spain with Las Palmas this season, but Leeds are looking to offer a deal to Sporting that is good enough to break that agreement and sign him themselves during the winter window.

As per Nixon's report, Leeds previously attempted to sign Essugo in the summer, but Sporting decided that loaning him to La Liga would benefit him more.

Sporting are said to be wanting a permanent fee included in any potential loan arrangement if they are to offload him, however, and the youngster could be worth a fee of around £6 million.

Leeds United keen on current La Liga loanee Dario Essugo

Essugo has been with Sporting CP since the age of nine, and has progressed through the academy before featuring for the B-team and the senior setup.

By the age of 19, he had made 25 senior appearances for Sporting, including two cameos in the Champions League and three in the Europa League. When he was 16, he became Portugal's youngest player to debut in the Champions League.

Earlier on in the 2024-25 season, Essugo was loaned out to Las Palmas in Spain, and so far during his time there has made 10 league starts, even getting his name on the scoresheet when finding the back of the net in their 3-2 defeat to RCD Mallorca last month.

Essugo has matured into a reliable defensive midfielder, who likes to intercept the ball in the middle of the park, and is not afraid to take long shots - that has seen him come onto the radar of Leeds.

Daniel Farke's Leeds are in and around the automatic promotion places in the Championship, as expected, as they search for a return to the promised land of the Premier League.

Of their 21 league games this season, they have won 12, drawn six and lost three, and as a result sit just three points behind league leaders, Sheffield United.

This past weekend, they survived a scare, as Preston North End were 1-0 up against them until the 93rd minute, when a Jack Whatmough own goal awarded them a share of the spoils.

Farke will need to turn some of those draws into wins if he is hoping to secure a third career promotion from the Championship.

He will surely utilise the January transfer window to strengthen his squad, and perhaps Dario Essugo could be a solid pickup in the centre of midfield.

However, you would imagine that with Ao Tanaka, Joe Rothwell, Ethan Ampadu and a soon to return Ilia Gruev at his disposal, Farke will be looking at other areas of the pitch to strengthen first rather than his engine room.

Pound for pound, Leeds probably have the best midfield options in the entire Championship when you weigh everything up, so if they were to try and land Essugo in January, the Portuguese starlet just could not be promised game-time.

Many Leeds fans would suggest a number 10 would be a more appropriate signing come the start of 2025, but Essugo could be an additional body in the midfield and one for the future instead of the now, even though he's deemed good enough currently to be playing in La Liga.