Leeds United have a new head coach in former Barnsley boss Paul Heckinbottom, but it appears that the club will be ploughinh over old transfer ground come July according to Spanish publication Diario de Leon.
As brought to you here on The72 yesterday, Leeds United are said in the hunt for midfielder Álex Gallar who currently plies his trade at SD Huesca in Spain’s La Liga 2. Huesca, of course, is where the Whites went to bring in influential #10 Samu Saiz, currently suspended as a result of him spitting during the Newport County FA Cup defeat.
Diario say that Leeds will be going in for Catalan midfielder Gallar and that the Elland Road club believe that he “would adapt without [a] problem to the style of football put forward in England.” The article also mentions, and hints at, a match between Leeds United and the Huesca midfielder based on “their [Huesca’s] particular electric game.”
Diario go on to admit that Huesca’s plans on retaining the services of Gallar could falter and that “the interest of Leeds could truncate the plans [to hold on to Gallar].” With this ‘interest’ in Gallar, the question remains as to what the Whites see in him and what he would bring to the game at Elland Road.
Alex Gallar – from Sabadell to Leeds United ‘interest’
Gallar (above – left) was born in the Catalan heartland, hailing from a town called Sabadell that lies 12 miles north of the Catalan capital of Barcelona – such was its history of textiles that it became known as the Catalan Manchester.
He began his football journey at Terrassa, progressing from their youth side to the senior set-up where he made ten appearances and scored two goals. A move came about in 2011 to RCD Mallorca and a drop back to youth level, and subsequent promotion to the reserves, where he made 19 appearances that brought about one goal.
From Mallorca it was a transfer to Murcia B (11 games/one goal), then on to Rubí (16 games/six goals), a return to Terrassa (37 games/12 goals), onwards to Cornellà (35 games/eight goals) and then to Hercules (31 games/six goals).
However, it was his next move where he really hit the straps, moving in 2016 to Cultural Leonesa and playing a major part in their climb from La Tercera to La Liga 2 with a return of 17 goals over 35 games. This headline figure brought about a €400,000 move to Huesca, for whom he’s featured 23 times in the league this season, scoring five goals and adding five assists.
Obviously, well it seems that way, that any ‘interest’ in Àlex Gallar by Leeds United will likely stem from a combination of his goal threat from last season when helping the Leeds-linked Cultural Leonesa into La Segunda for the first time in their history and his form for Huesca this season. With Leeds United Director of Football heavily influenced by his scouting experiences in Spain, it seems a logical path to follow that eyes will keep on being cast back in that direction.
