How Southampton’s Cameron Archer feels about failed deadline day move to Leeds United
The story of deadline day for Leeds United was whether the club could convince Southampton to green light a loan move for Cameron Archer and ultimately, they failed to do so.
The £15m Southampton striker was strongly linked with a move to Leeds United in the January window and Leeds made a loan bid to sign Archer. But Southampton rejected it, and were keen to keep him.
It saw Leeds fail to sign a single player, losing Joe Gelhardt to Hull City and Charlie Crew to Doncaster Rovers. Real Betis saw a £10m bid rejected for Mateo Joseph, with other Spanish clubs looking at Joseph.
With Southampton nailed-on to be relegated at the end of the season despite their 2-1 away win over Ipswich Town last time out, Archer may have been tempted by a move to Elland Road during January.
Graeme Bailey shares Cameron Archer stance after failed move
Leeds wanted Archer having sent Gelhardt on loan to Hull, and Patrick Bamford then suffered a setback with his hamstring injury. But Archer remains at Southampton in their desperate fight against relegation.
Graeme Bailey has now told LeedsUnited.News how Archer feels about his failed move to Southampton in the winter window. He feels Archer will have wanted a move because Leeds are likely to get promoted.
“Cameron Archer wanted the move, there is no doubting that – he wants to be in the Premier League next season and in the long-term. No doubt he feels he would be better served at Leeds than Southampton.”
Could Leeds revisit Archer interest in the summer window?
Ultimately, Leeds will have targeted Archer because of his form in England’s second tier. Throughout his career, England U21 talent Archer has 18 goals and seven assists in 40 Championship appearances.
They came during loans at Middlesbrough and Preston. But in the Premier League, he has just six goals in 60 top-flight outings, around half of which he has started. Archer then, is still unproven in the top tier.
If Leeds do go up, it is unlikely that Leeds revisit a move for the England U21 man. Instead, they will have a bigger and better pool of players to recruit from if promoted, rather than signing the unproven Archer.
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