“This would be so underwhelming” – Leeds United eyeing up transfer swoop for Burnley man: The verdict | OneFootball

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Football League World

·30 June 2022

“This would be so underwhelming” – Leeds United eyeing up transfer swoop for Burnley man: The verdict

Article image:“This would be so underwhelming” – Leeds United eyeing up transfer swoop for Burnley man: The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Leeds United are said to be one of a number of teams interested in handing Burnley midfielder Josh Brownhill a Premier League lifeline, according to a report from Graeme Bailey at 90min.


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The 26-year-old has been a Clarets player since January 2020, when he moved to Turf Moor from Bristol City for an undisclosed fee.

The central midfielder played 78 times for Burnley in the top flight, but his stint at that level came to an end last month when they were relegated to the Championship.

Along with the likes of West Ham United, Everton, Leicester City and Southampton, Leeds are understood to be an interested party in Brownhill, with the need to add to their midfield options as Kalvin Phillips looks set to depart to Manchester City.

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Article image:“This would be so underwhelming” – Leeds United eyeing up transfer swoop for Burnley man: The verdict

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Would Brownhill be a good fit at Elland Road though? Let’s see what the FLW team have to say…

Alfie Burns

Not for me, this would be so underwhelming.

Leeds are about to sign off a deal for Kalvin Phillips to leave the club and it’s quite public knowledge that, in the midfield, it’ll be one out, one in.

There’s the best part of £45m heading to Elland Road from Phillips’ sale, which gives the board plenty to play with.

Simply, replacing Phillips with Brownhill is a massive downgrade and it wouldn’t sit well amongst the supporters.

They want an ambitious signing replacing an England international, not a player that’s just dropped out of the Premier League.

Brownhill has his qualities and could be a decent squad player in the Premier League, but he doesn’t match Leeds’ needs at this stage of the summer.

Chris Gallagher

This would make little sense from Leeds’ perspective.

They are going to have big money coming in from the sales of Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, so they need to replace those pair with quality.

Phillips was crucial to the success the side have had over the years, which means they need to be after a top quality replacement and Brownhill isn’t up to that level.

He would be a decent player to have in the squad, so if Leeds do get a quality central midfielder and Brownhill you could say it’s decent business.

But, if he’s seen as the Phillips replacement then you can’t imagine the fans will be too happy!

Marcus Ally

This would be an intriguing signing.

It has been hard to monitor the in-possession abilities of Burnley players in the last couple of seasons, because they have had so little of it in the Premier League.

Brownhill would return to the second tier as an elite box-to-box midfielder for the level, but would be a smart addition as a squad player for the Whites.

Jesse Marsch is still implementing a high pressing system at Elland Road, but with a different shape and it would be interesting to see how Brownhill would slot into that.

Burnley are in a less than ideal financial situation heading into this season, and it could be advisable for them to recoup a fee and get him off of the wage bill.

In terms of bulking out their squad, Brownhill would be a smart addition.

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