Leeds United could have been handed a golden opportunity to bring Cody Gakpo to Elland Road this summer.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by The Independent, who claim that, following PSV Eindhoven's defeat in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday evening, the Eredivisie side may now be forced into accepting an offer for the 23-year-old winger - should one be made over the closing stages of the summer transfer window.
This would appear to be a suggestion backed up by the Netherlands international himself, who stated back in comments cited by The Mirror earlier this month: "We must first focus on [the second leg against AS Monaco] and try to make it to the Champions League. Then it is more likely that I will stay."
As such, the fact that PSV will now not be participating in the Champions League this season is sure to have come as a huge boost to Victor Orta and Leeds - with the Premier League side having been heavily linked with a £40m move for the Dutchman for the vast majority of the summer transfer window.
"Enormous" signing
Considering just how impressive Gakpo was for PSV last season, coupled with the signing of a new attacker well known to be Orta's priority over the remaining days of the summer transfer window, the argument that the 23-year-old would be an enormous signing for the Spaniard to get over the line is an easy one to make.
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Indeed, over his 27 Eredivisie appearances last time out, the £27m-rated talent was in astonishing form, scoring 12 goals, registering 13 assists and creating 11 big chances, in addition to taking an average of 3.0 shots, making 2.6 key passes and completing 2.9 dribbles per game - returns which, should he have achieved at Leeds last season, would have ranked him as Jesse Marsch's highest ranked player in every aforementioned metric.
However, not only would the £7.4k-per-week winger's returns have impressed at Leeds, they also did in the Netherlands, with Gakpo's average SofaScore match rating of 7.51 ranking him not only as his club's best performer in the league but also as the fourth-best player in the Dutch top flight as a whole in 2021/22.
Furthermore, the player who Ryan Haber dubbed "unpredictable" and Wierd Duk labelled an "enormous talent" has also started the 2022/23 campaign like a house on fire, having already bagged two goals, provided one assist and created two big chances over his two league fixtures, with these metrics seeing the 23-year-old - who can also operate as a centre-forward - average an even more remarkable SofaScore match rating of 8.15.
As such, with Gakpo quite clearly being a player who boasts an exceptional eye for goal, possesses the ability to play a killer pass and boasts a quite frightening amount of creative talent, not to mention one who would undoubtedly push Patrick Bamford for his starting spot up top, it would appear extremely advisable for Orta to indeed launch a late bid for the Dutchman this summer - as the PSV starlet would very much be an enormous signing for the Whites.