Leeds United winger Helder Costa looks set to become the 10th player to leave Elland Road in the summer transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to Abo Omar, with the Ittistudio journalist revealing in a post on Twitter (via MOT Leeds News) that Al-Ittihad have now come to an agreement with the Whites regarding the transfer of the 28-year-old winger, with the reporter revealing in a further tweet that the Angola international's switch is 99% done.
This claim was backed up by Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol, who reported on Sky Sports News (via MOT Leeds News) on Wednesday evening that the forward is indeed set to seal a move away from LS11 in the coming days.
In his tweets, Omar said: "The final agreement was reached with Leeds United for the transfer of the Angolan player Helder Costa to the Federation. 99% Helder Costa is the next winger for the Federation. They are waiting for the axis to replace [Bruno] Henrique, which is the summer deal, and they will not rest until it is completed."
"Not done enough"
Considering just how much Costa has struggled at Leeds following the club's promotion from the Championship two seasons ago, it is not difficult to understand why both Victor Orta and Jesse Marsch would be willing to cash in on the winger this summer.
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Indeed, over his 22 Premier League appearances in 2020/21, the £4.5m-rated forward failed to impress, as, despite scoring three goals and registering three assists, he also missed three big chances, lost possession of the ball an average of 8.6 times and was beaten by an opponent an average of once per match.
These metrics saw the £46k-per-week attacker average an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.46, ranking him as the Whites' second-worst performer in the top flight of English football that season.
Subsequently, the 28-year-old was shipped out on loan to Valencia for the 2021/22 campaign, where the former Wolverhampton Wanderers winger once again failed to make a decent impression, scoring no goals and providing just one assist over his 22 LaLiga appearances - with these returns seeing the forward yet again average a poor SofaScore match rating of 6.48.
As such, it is easy to see why Noel Whelan believes that Costa has "not done enough" to justify his £15m price tag at Elland Road, nor is it hard to comprehend why both Orta and Marsch would be happy to get the winger's hefty weekly wage off of their books this summer, as it is clear that Costa is simply not of the standard required for an upwardly mobile Premier League outfit.