Birmingham City face La Liga fight to land Leeds United star as Spanish bid rejected | OneFootball

Mateo Joseph helped Leeds United gain promotion to the Premier League last season

Leeds United have rejected an offer from Real Betis for Mateo Joseph amid Birmingham City interest in the forward.

It was reported by The Athletic that the Spanish side have offered to take the player on loan with an option to buy clause inserted in the deal.

Joseph played a role in Daniel Farke’s side gaining promotion to the Premier League last season, contributing three goals and three assists from 39 appearances.

But it remains to be seen how important he will be to the Whites next year in the top flight, with the 21-year-old set to compete with Joel Piroe, Luke Nmecha and Patrick Bamford for game time.

Birmingham face competition for Mateo Joseph

It was reported by GiveMeSport in June that Birmingham were among the clubs monitoring the situation surrounding Joseph.

Strasbourg were also mentioned as an interested side, but it’s Betis that moved forward with an official approach.

It’s been claimed that the top flight club have made an offer to loan the Spaniard for the campaign, with the option to make the deal permanent at the end of the campaign.

It’s believed that the Whites rejected an offer worth £10 million for Joseph back in the January transfer market, with the team chasing promotion from the Championship.

It’s understood that Leeds are hoping to hold onto the forward and use him to provide competition for Piroe, Nmecha and Bamford for game time in the Premier League.

Joseph came through the academy system at Elland Road, but has only started 11 league games for the club since breaking into the senior side.

Birmingham’s summer business

Birmingham have been quite active so far this summer since gaining promotion back to the Championship.

Chris Davies’ side are hoping to immediately compete at the top end of the second division, as they set their sights on Premier League promotion.

The Blues have signed Kyogo Furuhashi, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Kanya Fujimoto, while also bringing Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Alfons Sampstead to the club on a permanent basis after their initial loan deals.

Demarai Gray has also returned to St. Andrew’s, with Phil Neumann joining after signing a pre-contract agreement earlier this year.

Mateo Joseph deal could be tricky for Birmingham

Given the £10 million offer turned down by Leeds in January, it’s likely the Whites will have a steep asking price for the player now.

It’s not surprising they turned down the loan with a buy option as that deal often doesn’t work out for the selling club and is typically only accepted as an act of desperation when trying to get rid of a player.

But Leeds seem like they want to keep Joseph, who has a lot of potential at 21 to become a top quality forward.

A loan to Birmingham with no option to buy could be their best bet at signing him for this season, but it’s unclear whether the Blues would be open to bringing him to St. Andrew’s on only a temporary basis.