, 5 potential centre-backs for Leeds United to claim ‘missing’ squad number

5 potential centre-backs for Leeds United to claim ‘missing’ squad number

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Leeds United left three very big, and important, numbers free when they released their squad numbers for the 2018/19 Sky Bet Championship season late last week. Two are filled, and one main number stands out almost taunting Leeds United fans.

#5 – it sits there like a sore thumb, taunting Leeds United fans like Tantalus’ grapes and water taunted him in Greek myth. It is there to be seen and, at the same time, just out of reach.

The vacant #3 shirt was filled first. The shirt traditionally reserved for a left-back was filled by one – Barry Douglas signing from Wolves for around £3 million. Today saw the second shirt filled, the #9 shirt going to Patrick Bamford who arrived from Middlesbrough on an initial £7 million deal.

That just leaves the #5 shirt out there, lonely and waiting to be filled. Leeds United fans will tell you that it needs filling traditionally…with a central defender…as a necessity. Pontus Jansson is pretty much set as a shoe-in for a Leeds United side hoping to challenge at the top of the table.

Alongside Jansson is club captain Liam Cooper, a player that many fans are not convinced about. Beyond Jansson and Cooper, well you are dipping into either the Under-23s or looking at players with not a lot of game time filling in at that vital position.

With that in mind, here’s five central defenders who are either free agents, or who are coming to the end of their current deals – deals which run out next summer.

1. Robert Huth (free agent): solid, experienced, dependable – everything that you could ask for in a central defender – that’s Robert Huth. The 33-year-old German has 323 games of Premier League experience under his belt across seasons with Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Stoke City and Leicester – the Foxes releasing him at the start of this month. He didn’t feature in the Leicester first team last season, in fact only played in four Premier League 2 games. The season before, Huth featured in 33 Premier League games and appearances in the Champions League.

2. Phillip Wollscheid (free agent): 29-year-old German Wollscheid has been without a club since Metz let him go in early January this year. In this case fitness might be an issue should the Whites take a punt on signing him. However, he’s another centre-back who has a wealth of experience with 115 1.Bundesliga and 45 Premier League appearances to his name. The 45 Premier League appearances came during his time at Stoke City, the Potters paying £3.4 million for him from German side Bayer Leverkusen.

3. Michele Somma (free agent): if Leeds United want to go down the youth path, they might want to look no further than Somma who has been without a club since being let go by Bari in the middle of this month. He made his break into football in the famed Juventus youth academy, later moving to Serie A powerhouse Roma. He has two Serie A appearances to his name, the bulk of his playing time coming in Serie B where he has featured 60 times over his career. He has also represented Italy 26 times at all youth levels from Under-16 to Under-21 where he has two caps.

4. Alberto Botía (Al-Hilal Riyadh): Botía has pedigree and experience. The pedigree comes from his formative years in Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy system, which he joined as 14-year-old from Murcia Imperial. He worked his way through the levels at Barça, making one appearance in the first team against Deportivo La Coruña. Aside from that, he has garnered 140 games of La Liga experience with Sporting Gijon, Elche and Sevilla as well as 66 games in the Greek Super League with Olympiacos. He currently plays in Saudia Arabia for Al-Hilal Riyadh whom he joined at the start of this month on a one-year deal.

5. Michael Hefele (Huddersfield): a player well-known to Leeds United fans, and one who some will see fitting right in at Elland Road. The former Dynamo Dresden centre-back signed for the Terriers in 2016 and has already proven that he is capable of handling the rigours of the Sky Bet Championship where he featured in 40 appearances for Leeds’ West Yorkshire rivals. In Huddersfield’s inaugural season in the Premier League he featured just twice in an injury-hit season. A risk yes, but one that could pay off handsomely in Hefele can be brought back to optimum fitness.

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