Leeds United have reached a ‘total agreement’ to sign Lyon goalkeeper Lucas Perri with the Brazilian ‘flying to England’, according to reports.
The Whites had a turbulent end to the season with widespread reports claiming that Daniel Farke could face the sack despite just guiding them to promotion to the Premier League.
Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe was forced to come out and publicly back Farke as the man to take the club forward, declaring him as “my man”.
With Farke now definitely the manager for next season, Leeds have already added six players to the squad which earned them promotion from the Championship.
Lukas Nmecha and Sebastian Bornauw have both arrived from German side Wolfsburg, while Gabriel Gudmundsson has joined from Lille and Jaka Bijol has arrived in the most expensive deal of the summer so far from Udinese.
In the most recent moves, Sean Longstaff has joined from Newcastle United and defensive midfielder Anton Stach is the most expensive addition to the squad, arriving from Hoffenheim for €20m.
And now Leeds are set to spend another €15m on an Illan Meslier replacement with French journalist Fabrice Hawkins breaking the news that the Yorkshire club have reached a ‘total agreement’ to bring Lyon goalkeeper Perri to Elland Road.
Hawkins wrote on X: ‘EXCL Total agreement between Lyon and Leeds for Lucas Perri. The goalkeeper is leaving the tour in Germany and flying to England. After medical Perri will signs his contract with Leeds.’
Farke revealed earlier this week that Mateo Joseph has asked if he could move as he wants to return to Spain, the Leeds boss said: “It was actually the plan to have him here.
“With him the situation is quite clear. We really value and rate him – otherwise we wouldn’t have played him, especially in the beginning of the last successful campaign ahead of a golden boot winner in Joel Piroe and an experienced striker like Patrick Bamford.”
“Nevertheless, he came to me and asked for a new challenge and would like to move. He has also hinted that he prefers a move to Spain due to his Spanish roots. That was his call.”
Farke continued: “We have invested a lot in him – time, money and backing.
“He’s on a long-term contract and we value him. This is for our key people and the board to decide the value. The truth is that no other club has met our expectations yet.
“He mentioned that he didn’t feel ready for the trip to Stockholm. I accepted this because he started later with training.
“The day after, he said he didn’t feel ready to travel to play the friendlies here in Germany.
“It’s not a situation I like. I’ve spoken honestly to him and strongly recommended him to be professional but he said he’s not in a mental state to do this.
“What should I do? I can’t call the police to drag him here on the training pitch. It was his decision.”
Real Betis have been the main club interested in Joseph but Spanish newspaper AS claims that paying Leeds’ €15m asking price is ‘not even remotely considered’ and it is understood that the Premier League side need to lower his price or include a buy option in a loan deal.