Leeds United reportedly had an interest in signing Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho during the recent summer transfer window.

What's the news?

In a recent report from The Athletic by Phil Hay, the Yorkshire club had the Nigerian on their radar but were unable to sign him.

After scoring 21 goals in 64 senior appearances for Manchester City, the 25-year-old joined Leicester back in the 2017 summer transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £25m.

Since then, the centre-forward has netted 47 goals and supplied 29 assists in 176 appearances across all competitions for the Foxes.

Hailed as a "special talent" by Tony Cottee, the attacker has 73 goals at senior and youth levels under his belt.

With four goals and five assists to his name for Leicester in the Premier League last season, only three of Iheanacho's teammates racked up more goal-creating actions than him (8), which is only one fewer than Raphinha (9) managed to have last season.

Dream Dieng alternative

Bearing in mind how Leeds were on the verge of securing a deadline day transfer for Bamba Dieng before the proposed deal collapsed, a move to Iheanacho, with the benefit of hindsight, could've been the better option for the Whites and Victor Orta to target.

Having appeared in 172 Premier League games throughout his career, the Leicester star certainly has the experience over Dieng and therefore a higher chance of being able to hit the ground running at Elland Road.

Also, with the likes of Raphinha leaving earlier in the window and Dan James making a late loan switch to Fulham, in addition to the fact that Patrick Bamford had a significant injury record last season, this highlights just how much of a useful signing the Nigeria international would have been for Jesse Marsch.

Taking all of this into account, if Leeds had focused on potentially securing a deal for Iheanacho ahead of Dieng before the summer transfer window closed, they may have saved themselves the drama and hassle that sprung up yesterday as a result of trying to sign the Marseille attacker.

Moving forward, if Leeds still have an interest in signing the Leicester figure, perhaps a swoop for him in the January transfer window or next summer could be the ideal time for Leeds to snap him up.