Heckingbottom in confession about Leeds reported hot pursuit of £28,000-a-wk PL ace

Fri 4 May 2018 12:04, UK

By Richard Parks

Paul Heckingbottom has admitted he is a big admirer of reported Leeds United target Kyle Bartley.

Speaking at his media conference on Friday, the Leeds manager was “very complimentary” of the Swansea City centre-back, as quoted on the personal Twitter account of BBC Radio Leeds correspondent Adam Pope, but stopped short of saying the club are trying to sign him.

PH very complimentary ofKyle Bartley but would not admit if #lufc were in for him.
— Adam Pope (@APOPEY) May 4, 2018

View Tweet

This comes after the Yorkshire Evening Post claim that Leeds are in talks to recruit Bartley and hope to wrap up an early May deal for the 6ft 4in powerhouse after learning that Swansea will listen to offers for him if they avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Sportrac claim Bartley earns £1.5million-a-year at Swansea, equivalent to £28,000-a-week.

Football Insider verdict:

It is quite staggering that Leeds did not pursue Bartley last summer (why on earth not?) but they appear ready to push hard to right that glaring wrong. He played 45 out of 46 league matches in 2016-17 under Garry Monk, starting them all, in the club’s equal best league campaign since their Premier League days. It was surely a no-brainer to at least try to sign one half of one of the best centre-back partnerships in the division. Apparently not, for United top brass whose recruitment strategy last summer left so much to be desired. Swansea might not have been willing to sell Bartley at that point, but Leeds could and should have at least tried. The word is that Swansea will now listen to offers for the giant centre-back, although the valuation is likely to have gone up as Bartley signed a new contract last summer that has three years to run. Leeds are going to have to pay big money to land the defender, probably upwards of £5million, but he is worth it. If Bartley hits the ground running, there will be few better centre-backs in the Championship next season.

In other Leeds United news, it can be revealed that Andrea Radrizzani is ready to end the careers of 13 senior players at the club in a jawdropping cull.