Leeds United should attempt to raid Championship rivals if Karl Darlow opts for Bournemouth move: Opinion | OneFootball

Leeds United are finally on with making signings after a painstaking couple of months following relegation from the Premier League, which has seen issues ranging from an ownership change to finding a new head coach to a full-scale rebuild of the recruitment team.

Relegation to the Championship is never easy and sooner rather than later, some top players are probably going to leave Elland Road for pastures new.

Only Rodrigo so far has exited for Al-Rayyan of Qatar out of the significant players on a permanent basis, with Robin Koch, Diego Llorente, Rasmus Kristensen, Marc Roca and Brenden Aaronson departing on loan, but more are expected due to the interest surrounding individuals.

Tyler Adams is one player that has attracted significant interest and so has Wilfried Gnonto and Jack Harrison, but the addition of Ethan Ampadu from Chelsea for £7 million is certainly a step forward in the right direction.

A name expected to depart at some point is Illan Meslier, who despite being dropped late on last season by interim manager Sam Allardyce is being kept tabs on by a number of top clubs.

And the most evident sign that Leeds expect the Frenchman to depart is that they are very keen to sign Karl Darlow from Newcastle United - but they face competition from Bournemouth of the Premier League for the 32-year-old.

Darlow, who spent the second half of last season on loan in the Championship with Hull City, is not imminently departing the Magpies as he has been involved in pre-season friendlies but the Cherries are in talks with Newcastle regarding a deal, per The Telegraph, with speculation rife that he would cost £6 million.

Should Leeds miss out on Darlow though, then there are other goalkeepers out there that have been on their radar, with Football League World exclusively revealing back in June that Preston North End's Freddie Woodman was a potential target that had been identified.

That was backed up by Phil Hay of The Athletic not long after and it wouldn't be the first time that the Whites were keen on Woodman, having pulled out of doing a deal for him two years ago when at Newcastle United.

However, now may be the right time for United to swoop for his services now that he is in a different situation with a club that are smaller in stature.

Why Freddie Woodman?

Woodman's record speaks for itself - he won the Golden Glove in the 2020-21 Championship season when on loan at Swansea City, keeping 20 clean sheets in the regular season and was one of the main reasons why the Swans got all the way to the play-off final that year.

He then played a few times for Newcastle in the Premier League the following season but was then loaned to Bournemouth, unfortunately ending up as a backup at the Cherries but he has found consistent game-time with a permanent move to Preston North End last summer.

Woodman played a part of their seven-match clean sheet streak in the league at the start of the 2022-23 season, and in total kept 17 clean sheets in 46 matches played in the Championship.

North End did have a shaky defence a lot of the time but he kept the club in a lot of matches with his shot-stopping abilities - he's not the tallest goalkeeper in the world standing at 6 ft 2 in but he does bring confidence out in outfield players due to his all-round solid game.

Whichever way you look at it as well, PNE to Leeds would be a step upwards as North End will not be seen as real play-off contenders this season unless they make a few more eye-catching signings, so if Woodman were to make the ambitious move, even though he appears to be enjoying life in Lancashire, then he would depart if United came calling.

What is Freddie Woodman's current situation with Preston North End?

Woodman has just completed the first year of a three-year contract at Deepdale, and claims have been made by Ryan Lowe that before the start of the summer transfer window he hadn't spent a single penny on a transfer fee as manager of the club, meaning he cost absolutely nothing from Newcastle.

There will surely of course be a large sell-on clause for the 26-year-old, and every player of course has a price - especially for a club like PNE who have to sell to buy in most cases.

If Leeds went to the negotiating table and got to the £5 million mark - a similar fee to what it would cost to bring Darlow in - then it would give North End something to seriously consider and that is a price that could perhaps not be turned down.

Woodman as well is six years younger than Darlow and because of goalkeepers peaking at a later age than outfield players, he still has a lot of his best years ahead of them.