Leeds United have had a more than welcome start to their 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign, a start that has seen them hit the top of the table after nine games.
A lot of this has been on the back of scintillating attacking play driven by a revitalised midfield and newly-acquired players such as Macedonian Gianni Alioski and Spaniard Samu Saiz.
According to the Daily Mail’s Mail Online journalist Simon Jones, it is back to Spain that the Whites are heading as they aim to improve their already impressive side. Like Saiz’s capture from CD Huesca, the Whites are heading back to La Liga 2 but this time with their sights fixed on relegated La Liga side Osasuna.
According to Jones, Leeds United are in for former Arsenal midfielder Fran Merida after “posting scouts at recent Osasuna games to watch the 27-year-old.” Interestingly, Merida signed for Osasuna in July 2016 from CD Huesca, and will therefore have played alongside current Leeds United attacking midfielder Saiz.
Merida started out in Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy system, but was brought over to English football and Arsenal in 2005 as a 15-year-old. It didn’t really work for him at Arsenal, the midfielder only featuring 17 times for the Gunners, scoring twice and setting up two assists.
He was loaned to Real Sociedad, before being signed by Aletico Madrid on a free transfer in 2010. He made 30 appearances for Aletico (three goals/four assists) before a loan deal to Portuguese side Braga, and an eventual series of free transfers that saw him play for Hercules CF in Spain and Atletico Paranaense in Brazil.
A further free transfer saw him return to Spanish football with SD Huesca, for whom he made 60 appearances (ten goals/four assists) before signing for current side Osasuna for a fee thought to be around £450,000. This season Merida has made six La Liga 2 appearances (one assist) and two Copa del Rey games (one goal) – with Leeds United, as said above, having been watching him.
