Two and a half years later…
Manchester United are in advanced talks with Leeds United over the permanent sale of Daniel James, according to Fabrizio Romano.
James was on the verge of signing for Leeds from Swansea two and a half years ago, to the point that he had taken photographs holding up a Leeds jersey with his name printed on the back. But the deal fell through at the final hurdle and he had to return to Swansea.
Manchester United then took advantage in the summer of 2019, signing the speedy winger for a fee in the region of £15 million.
James’ impact at Old Trafford has been underwhelming and with the arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, his playing time would be very limited if he were to remain at the club.
Romano says talks between United an Leeds are at an “advanced” stage and there have been discussions on personal terms for the Wales international.
James started the 6-1 United win over Leeds, at Old Trafford, on the opening day of the Premier League season. He also started in the 1-0 win over Wolves, on Sunday, but was replaced by Edinson Cavani with the scores level at 0-0.
Should the deal go through this time, and we see James actually pull on the famous white jersey, Leeds will surely be a better fit for the Welshman, whose pace is perfectly suited to Marcelo Bielsa’s all-action counter-attacking style of play.
While James has scored a few goals for United, he is still best known for the episode that saw him almost join Leeds in 2019. The entire chapter was caught by Amazon Prime cameras, who were making a documentary about Leeds at the time.
If you haven’t seen that section of the story before, you can watch it in the YouTube video below. With just over a day remaining to get this deal over the line, let’s hope lightning doesn’t strike twice.
