It’s all getting very exciting at the top of the Sky Bet Championship as the promotion run-in continues apace.
Norwich are continuing to set the pace at the top in what is quickly becoming a three-way tussle with Sheffield United and Leeds United. All three sides won this weekend, as they look to pull away from the chasing pack.
Hot on the heels of Leeds’ hard-fought 1-0 victory comes a report that the Whites might very well be thinking ahead. This comes about with news that they’ve been scouting abroad – this coming from
#lufc scout saw Athletic Bilbao 1-1 #rcde on Fri and #alaves 1-1 #eibar on Sat…reported Leeds January target Ibai Gomez came on for last 15mins in Athletic game
— Scouts in Attendance (@scoutsattending) March 9, 2019
News that the club have been scouting Europe won’t come as a surprise any longer, it is a route that the Whites have explored extensively under the tactics of Director of Football Victor Orta.
One reason they could have been there, as picked up on by Scouts in Attendance, might have been to check out Ibai Gómez of Athletic Bilbao. Gómez is well-known to Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa, playing 75 times under the legendary Argentinian reshaping Leeds’ fortunes.
With United being frustrated in their deadline day pursuit of Dan James, Swansea pulling out at the death, keeping an eye on Gómez might be evidence of a degree of forward planning.
The Bilbao-born native has featured in 26 La Liga games this season, eight of these since returning to Bilbao in a £4.6m deal in mid-January. The other 18 games came for Deportivo Alaves, for whom he scored three goals and provided two assists.
However, it has to be said that whilst Leeds may be doing some advance planning in scouting in Spain, it’s highly unlikely that Gómez would be the target – especially given his recent big-money transfer.
Question is – who might they have been checking out?
