Leeds United will have been bitterly disappointed with how their 2023/24 season ended, as Southampton picked up a slim 1-0 win in the Championship play-off final to deny the Whites an immediate re-entry to the Premier League.
Russell Martin's Saints really showed the huge importance of having a potent centre-forward in your ranks to finish off golden opportunities in the one-off Wembley clash, as Adam Armstrong tucked home a rare Southampton chance on the day which ended up winning the tense contest.
Daniel Farke's men were visibly distraught on the pitch after, knowing now that they won't want to feel that gutting feeling again anytime soon, with striker reinforcements now being reportedly targeted to strengthen ahead another promotion push.
Leeds looking at Euros ace
According to football journalist Ben Jacobs, whilst writing for GIVEMESPORT, Serbian striker Petar Ratkov, who is with his nation at the Euros in Germany, could be on the move this summer from his current employers Red Bull Salzburg.
The 20-year-old attacker has attracted the interest of Leeds as a result, as per Jacobs' report, with Farke potentially viewing the exciting Salzburg man as a successor to an ageing Patrick Bamford, who struggled for goals and fitness towards the back-end of last campaign.
Rangers and RB Leipzig are also noted as interested parties alongside the Championship outfit, with the Glasgow-based giants actually missing out on his services 12 months ago, before Ratkov's move to Austria from his native Serbia.
Acting as an understudy to both Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic on the international stage, Ratkov – who was purchased for £4m just last summer – will strive to become Leeds' main man up top if he secures a move to West Yorkshire soon, with Bamford pushed way down the pecking order subsequently, and even potentially out of the door.
What Raktov could offer Leeds
Whilst the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter stole the show for Leeds on a regular basis last campaign, there was still a lack of an out-and-out potent striker up top finishing off chances, to complement the trickery of the other Whites forward players.
That's where the 20-year-old attacker will hope he can plug a gap as a result, after a promising debut season in Austria saw him net six goals from 35 games in total, after ending his long association with FK TSC Backa Topola with 14 strikes from 46 clashes, before bowing out.
23/24
35
6
3
22/23
46
14
5
21/22
36
6
1
20/21
15
5
0
Ratkov's 14 strikes during his final season playing in Serbia will have piqued Leeds' interest, on top of his promising numbers playing for Salzburg, knowing they will have to find a Bamford replacement soon, with 30-year-old's injury record still troubling those in West Yorkshire, on top of his inconsistent form in-front of goal.
The long-standing Whites servant would help himself to nine goals in all competitions last season, but all of his eight second-tier strikes came in 2024, after a barren patch had irked Leeds supporters in the first half of the campaign.
Leeds will be tempted to gamble on signing Ratkov, therefore, to give the side an injection of something raw and fresh, away from relying on an injury-prone striker to deliver the goods, who was missing for all of his team's play-off clashes, to the detriment of Farke's men.
Tipped to be the next Haaland, who was once a wide-eyed attacker himself on the books at Ratkov's Salzburg, Leeds will further hope their new Red Bull connections will swing this transfer battle in their favour, as a promotion-winning squad looks to be assembled, from the ashes of last season's heartbreak.
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