The January transfer window officially opened for business last week and Leeds United have the chance to make moves to bolster their promotion hunt.
Daniel Farke’s side are currently top of the Championship table, one point ahead of Sheffield United and Burnley, and the manager may want to dip into the market to add more quality to his group, to give them the best chance of getting to the Premier League.
The Whites are fighting to finish in the top two to go straight up to the top-flight, rather than having to go through the play-offs as they did last season.
Leeds may look to the defensive side of their team to improve in the January transfer window after they watched their team drop a two-goal lead to draw against Hull on Saturday.
Farke’s men were 3-1 up heading into the final ten minutes and Illan Meslier did not cover himself in glory for any of the three goals, particularly with the second goal after seemingly keeping the ball in play after it was heading over.
Leeds are now, reportedly, looking to bolster their squad by adding another central defender to come in and compete with the likes of Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon.
Leeds United eyeing deal for Premier League defender
According to The Sun, Leeds United are one of the clubs pushing to sign Nottingham Forest centre-back Andrew Omobamidele in the January transfer window.
The report claims that the Tricky Trees have made him available for a transfer and are looking to rake in a fee of £10m for the player they paid £11m to sign from Norwich City in the summer of 2023, with the Whites now in talks to get a deal done.
It states that Sheffield United, who recently lost central defender Harry Souttar to a long-term injury, are also eyeing up a swoop to land the Ireland international, which means that Leeds are facing strong competition from one of their promotion rivals to secure his signature.
The Sun adds that Nottingham Forest would be open to doing a loan that leads into a guaranteed permanent deal in the summer, although it is unclear if they would allow the guaranteed aspect of the move to only be activated upon promotion.
It reveals that Leeds view Omobamidele as a long-term investment that they could make and that they want to bring in more competition for their current centre-backs, as Rodon is currently the only senior, natural, centre-back option on the right side of the pairing.
Farke had a robust, athletic, young, right-footed Norwich academy graduate in his defence when he won the Championship title with the Canaries in the 2018/19 campaign, as Ben Godfrey lined up at the back for him that year.
Ben Godfrey's form under Daniel Farke
The England international, who is set to sign for Norwich’s rivals Ipswich Town this month, featured in 31 of the club’s 46 matches in that title-winning season in 2018/19.
He emerged as the first-choice on the right side of the defence during that campaign, playing alongside captain Christoph Zimmermann, and kept experienced options like Grant Hanley and Timm Klose out of the XI.
Godfrey suited the way Farke sees the game because he was progressive in his use of the ball. The defender ranked within the top 13% of his positional peers in the division for progressive carries (1.17) per 90, and the top 21% for progressive passes (3.35) per 90.
This shows that he was comfortable at bringing the ball out from the back to set up attacks for the team, both with passes to break lines and carries to get the team up the pitch.
Appearances
31
Goals
4
Pass accuracy
90%
Ground duel success rate
63%
Clearances
109
As you can see in the table above, the Norwich star was reliable with the ball at his feet and dominant in physical contests with opposition forwards on the ground.
Godfrey, who was once described as a “Rolls Royce” by podcaster Ben Winst, then played a season in the Premier League with the Canaries, but was unable to help them avoid relegation.
After that relegation, Everton swooped in to sign him from Norwich for a reported fee of £30m, which shows that Farke helped to turn him into an incredibly valuable asset.
Why Andrew Omobamidele could be Farke's next Ben Godfrey
Interestingly, Omobamidele was already on his way to becoming the German head coach’s next version of Godfrey before his dismissal in 2021.
Farke was sacked by sporting director Stuart Webber in November 2021, just a matter of months after he had given the Irish defender his first-team bow at the back end of the previous season.
Omobamidele, whose former coach Kenny Molloy described him as a “Rolls Royce”, featured in the last nine games of the 2020/21 campaign, after injuries to Zimmermann and Ben Gibson forced the manager’s hand, to help secure a league title for the Yellows.
Appearances
9
Pass accuracy
89%
Tackles + interceptions per game
1.9
Ground duel success rate
75%
Aerial duel success rate
71%
Dribbled past
0x
As you can see in the table above, his performances in a pressured environment, fighting for the title, at the age of 18 were incredibly impressive, as he dominated opposition forwards in the air and on the deck.
Omobamidele then played five times in the Premier League the following season and four of those outings came before Farke was dismissed in November, as replacement Dean Smith opted for more experience.
The Ireland international has found football hard to come by in recent years, with just 11 league outings for Forest since his move from Norwich in 2023, but he could kickstart his career by coming back to the manager who placed faith in him at such a young age.
Farke did not get the chance to see through his development of Omobamidele, in the way that he was able to with Godfrey, and could look to help him fulfill his potential at Elland Road, and turn him into a £30m-rated – or higher – asset in the future.
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