It has been announced that Leeds made a £2.5 million (€3 million) bid for Ryan Kent, the winger who currently plays for Fenerbahçe SK. Fenerbahçe are, of course, the Turkish team based in Istanbul that is currently led by none other than José Mourinho.
This significant bid for Kent comes amongst the Whites’ scramble to replace Crysencio Summerville, who is about to sign a five-year deal with West Ham later this year. Many of us have been speculating obsessively over potential Summerville replacements - i.e., Gabriel Sara - to the point that we’ve missed some other key bits of transfer news, such as this bid for Kent.
It’s been an exciting transfer season overall, and one that has witnessed about as much sports wagering as the football season itself. As stated by Peter Addison in his comparison of new online betting sites, interest in sports wagering increases by the day. Throughout the summer, plenty of new soccer fans sign up for fast withdrawal, big bonuses, and crypto gambling betting sites to make the most of the transfer season.
However, sports bettors may have missed this news about the 27-year-old winger. Reports emerged of this bid on 31 July from Turkey, as rumours of the player’s potential transfer to Leeds began to circulate. This was forwarded to the British press via Sport Witness. It has yet to make mainstream sports news, which is perhaps why so few people heard about it.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that Kent has been close to signing for our side, given that Marcelo Bielsa wanted to sign him to the Whites during his time managing at Elland Road.
Bielsa had reportedly hoped to sign Kent twice while the winger played for Liverpool. Most recently, Bielsa was allegedly ready to bid an impressive £10 million to Rangers while Kent was playing under Steven Gerrard.
Kent, who had been playing in Glasgow before his move to Turkey, had scored 10 goals in his 37 appearances at Rangers. He was even once described as a “wizard” by his Ibrox teammate Leon Balogun. These accolades and the number of goals Kent scored in Scotland were perhaps the main reasons why Bielsa wanted to sign him so badly.
Kent has been playing in Turkey now for 12 months and has a contract with the Turkish side until 2027. However, a transfer to West Yorkshire is very possible, given that Mourinho hasn’t been using Kent to his full potential at Fenerbahçe.
Over the past year, Kent has only made a total of 19 appearances, with a total of 68 minutes played.
During these appearances, he’s only scored one goal and made two assists. He would definitely be utilised more at Elland Road, especially now that Daniel Farke is looking to fill the void left by Crysencio Summerville.
Plus, Kent already has Championship-level experience, having played for Barnsley during the 2016-2017 season and Bristol City in 2018.