Leeds United winger Daniel James is attracting interest ahead of the closure of the summer transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by Alan Nixon, with The Sun journalist revealing in a recent post on his Patreon (via Leeds Live) that Tottenham Hotspur are lining up a "shock" move for the 24-year-old forward in the coming days.

Nixon went on to state that Antonio Conte's side are interested in taking the Wales international on a season-long loan deal that would include a £20m option to buy in the summer of 2023, although the Whites are believed to favour a deal that would see them receive a fee for the forward now.

Finally, the journalist suggested that the Spurs manager is looking to add something different to his attacking options prior to the closure of the summer transfer window next week, with James' pace said to have caught the eye of the 52-year-old Italian.

James must go

While it is true that James is a useful option for Jesse Marsch to have in his first team squad, considering the fact that Victor Orta has already added the likes of Brenden Aaronson and Luis Sinisterra to the Whites' attacking arsenal this summer, the argument that Leeds should let the Welshman go prior to September's transfer deadline - especially for a potential fee of £20m - is a rather easy one to make.

Indeed, over his 34 Premier League appearances in 2021/22, the £16.2m-rated forward endured a rather torrid campaign, scoring just four goals - despite often being deployed as a centre-forward in the absence of Patrick Bamford - and missing eight big chances for the Whites, as well as making an average of a mere 9.9 passes and losing possession of the ball 9.4 times per game.

These returns saw the £50k-per-week attacker who Darren Bent dubbed "headless" average an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.64, ranking him as Marsch's joint ninth-worst performer in the top flight of English football last time out.

As such, considering the fact that James has started just one Premier League fixture so far this season - as a direct result of Bamford suffering another injury setback - it is clear that the 24-year-old is no longer a key part of the Whites' starting XI under the management of the American, leading us to believe that Orta simply must cash in on the winger while the interest is there.