Daniel James was close to joining Leeds United in the January transfer window, but the move collapsed in the final moments. However, Leeds United’s chief executive Angus Kinnear had indicated that they could once again try their luck in the summer to sign the Welsh winger. When asked if Leeds will renew their interest in James in the summer, Kinnear responded: “Absolutely. He will definitely maintain an interest.”
However, if the latest reports from Bristol Live are to be believed, then the winger is currently negotiating on a new contract with the Swans. The winger recently said, ”I think the negotiations are taking place now. I am just waiting on that, I’m happy with it and am letting my agent and the club deal with it and hopefully, it happens soon. I want to get into the Premier League and I’d love to do it with Swansea. There may be a time [when I have to leave] but that’s in the future.”
This piece of news is definitely going to come down as a body blow for the club as Kinnear had made it clear that the Whites might try their luck in the summer to sign him again. James has gone from strength to strength even after so many distractions as the winger has caught the attention of everyone with his performances.
His direct style of play, pace and ability to take on defenders would have made him a big hit at Elland Road. Moreover, his impressive work rate should have seen him slot right in Bielsa’s footballing philosophy. The Whites are anyway in desperate need of wingers and we expect the club to sign two in the upcoming summer. However, after the latest piece of development regarding James’ contract, United might have to chop James from the list of potential targets.
But, this could be a trick from Swansea to push the price of the player up in the summer. In the last two months, James has shown what he is capable of and we feel that there could be some Premier League clubs who might join the race to sign him.
Swansea, therefore, are playing it smart by getting James to sign a new contract which would deter the other club from coming after him and they might have to pay extraordinarily to sign him in the summer if he goes on to sign a new contract soon.
United would be frustrated with this latest piece of news but maybe with Premier League qualification, James might still be willing to jump the ship to move to the West Yorkshire club.
