Southampton and Leicester City face Leeds United threat in race to sign 11-goal forward | OneFootball

Leeds United have joined the race to sign Panathinaikos' Fotis Ioannidis, who had been on the radar of Leicester City and Southampton.

Leeds United are the latest club to show an interest in Panathinaikos forward Fotis Ioannidis, who had been on the radar of Southampton and Leicester City.

The 25-year-old has established himself as a top player in Greece over the years, which included scoring 11 goals in all competitions last season, which came on the back of a campaign where he hit over 20.

With Ioannidis having also won 17 caps for his country, he is a player who has a good pedigree, and it has been reported for some time that he could be on the move.

Leeds United keen on Panathinaikos’ Fotis Ioannidis

Previously, it was suggested that Leicester and Southampton were tracking Ioannidis, but there is now Premier League interest in the player.

That’s after the BBC revealed that Leeds are keen on Ioannidis, with Daniel Farke looking to add to his attack as the Whites look to stay in the top-flight following their promotion, even with Dominic Calvert-Lewis joining the club on a free transfer after leaving Everton this summer.

The update explains that Ipswich were looking at Ioannidis 12 months ago, whilst Porto and Sporting CP also interested in the attacker, so it won’t be straightforward for the Yorkshire side given the Portuguese giants can offer European football.

With Leeds, it’s stated that Norwich City’s Josh Sargent is a target, although it appears Ioannidis is higher in the pecking order at the time.

Southampton and Leicester will have to be patient in transfer search

This shows the difficulty for Championship clubs when it comes to attracting high-level talent, as there is often a lot of competition to land a player.

Whether Ioannidis is a realistic target is open to debate, as he is a very good player, and it’s unclear whether he would’ve seriously considered dropping to the second tier.

The financial aspects of this deal will be very difficult for a Championship side as well, particularly for Leicester given their circumstances, and Southampton may feel that any money they do spend should be prioritised for other positions, given they have plenty of options in attack right now.

Despite the relegated duo getting off to winning starts, they will both feel that they need reinforcements ahead of the deadline, and landing a player of the calibre of Ioannidis will be the target over the next few weeks to help them push for promotion.