49ers lining up Leeds swoop for £17m star who’s as exciting as Paixao

49ers lining up Leeds swoop for £17m star who’s as exciting as Paixao

The ‘here we go’ treatment that Fabrizio Romano offered Marseille for Igor Paixao on Monday night dealt Leeds

United supporters a severe blow.

Earlier in the day, there were rumours that the Whites would reach an agreement to pay around £28 million to

capture the Brazilian forward from Feyenoord before the French team did.

Nonetheless, as the aforementioned tweet indicates, Marseille has a five-year contract ‘in place’ to sign the 25-year-

old star.

Leeds United tried to jump in and persuade Paixao to transfer to England, but Romano says he ‘preferred’ to sign

with the French team.

Given that Lukas Nmecha as a free transfer is the only attacking signing the Whites have made so far this summer,

missing out on the winger has come as a big blow for the club.

However, it will be interesting to see how the Feyenoord star handles a move to a top five league in Europe, as Leeds

have been burned by Eredivisie stars in the past.

Why Leeds may have dodged a bullet with Igor Paixao

First of all, it is important to note that Paixao had a tremendous 2024–2025 season in the Netherlands, making him

an extremely exciting addition to the team.

From the left wing position, the 25-year-old star contributed 18 goals and 14 assists in all competitions,

demonstrating his potential to be a formidable danger as a goal scorer and creator.

However, following his stellar season in the Eredivisie, Leeds once paid a startlingly comparable sum of £21 million

to buy left winger Luis Sinisterra from Feyenoord in 2022.

As you can see in the table above, Sinisterra and Paixao both delivered plenty of goals and assists in their respective

seasons in the Dutch top-flight for Feyenoord.

The former Leeds man, though, has only managed eight goals and three assists in 51 Premier League appearances in

his career to date, which shows how hard it can be to translate that form from the Netherlands over to England.

With this in mind, the club’s latest reported target to bolster their attack may be just as exciting as the fallen through

deal for Paixao would have been.

Leeds in the race to sign English star

Leeds United is one of several teams preparing a possible summertime raid to recruit Jonathan Rowe from

Marseille, according to Calcio Mercato.

According to the article, Atalanta may enter the competition if they are unable to get Ademola Lookman, while the

Whites, Bournemouth, and Roma are all interested in signing the England U21 international.

In a humorous turn of events, Calcio Mercato says that the impending arrival of Paixao, who would replace him in

the squad on the left wing, may make the former Norwich City forward available for clubs to sign this summer.

The report adds that Leeds are not the only team turning to Rowe as an alternative to the Feyenoord star, as Roma

are also looking at him after also missing out on Paixao.

It also reveals that it will take a fee in the region of £17m in order to secure a deal for the English winger, which

means that he would be significantly cheaper than the Eredivisie sensation, but he could be just as exciting.

Why Leeds should sign Jonathan Rowe

The Whites should push to win the race to sign Rowe before the summer transfer window slams shut at the start of

September because he could be just as exciting as Paixao.

First and foremost, the former Canaries star is three years younger than Paixao and still has plenty of time left before

he enters the prime years of his career, which the Brazilian winger is already in.

The Feyenoord star scored four goals and provided four assists in 18 games in the Brazilian top division when he was

22 years old.

had not participated in any European football games. In contrast, Rowe has participated in 28 Premier League

games and 13 in

Ligue 1 already in his career.

In 28 Ligue 1 games, the Englishman assisted on three goals, scored three goals, and created eight “big chances,”

however he only started six of those games under Roberto De Zerbi.

In contrast to his positional peers in the division, the £17 million star’s underlying statistics, per 90, were quite

excellent, as seen in the table above. This shows that he could have contributed significantly more goals and assists if

he had been given more playing time.

Because of this, the attacker, who scored 13 goals for Norwich in the 2023–24 season, might be a very exciting

addition to Leeds. Daniel Farke might give him frequent starts at Elland Road, which would allow him to show off

his skills at the top of the pitch.

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