The sudden £17.3m transfer hijack that Leeds should consider instead of Solomon deal

Jonathan Rowe could scarcely have had a better summer. After a solid first season with Marseille, the 22-year-old winger scored the winning goal against Germany in the European Under-21 Championship final for England, and it looked for all the world as though his career was headed in the right direction. Now, all of a sudden, he’s on the transfer list.

Marseille haven’t decided to move on from Rowe because of any on-pitch problems. Rather, a dressing-room altercation between Rowe and team-mate Adrien Rabiot after a 1-0 opening day defeat to Stade Rennais last weekend made Marseille decide to sell both players, with their club president describing his players’ conduct as “extremely serious and extremely violent.”

That’s hardly a glowing character reference, but Rowe will be in demand regardless. Fabrizio Romano reports that Italian outfit Bologna have already agreed personal terms with the winger and a switch to Serie A seems likely – but could Leeds United come in with a last-minute bid and offer Rowe a path to the Premier League?

Why Leeds could make a late bid for Jonathan Rowe

Football Insider are among the outlets to suggest that Leeds could make a bid for Rowe, although it’s unclear whether such stories exist because of sincere interest or simply because the club tried their best to sign him last summer.

Leeds were among Rowe’s suitors prior to his move to Marseille, and now that they have Premier League status again and Rowe is very clearly available, it’s certainly not inconceivable that they try to muscle in on Bologna’s move.

Marseille are asking for €20m (£17.3m) for Rowe, according to Romano, with a permanent deal considered the only option. That should be roughly within Leeds’ budget, as with the arrival of Noah Okafor they have thus far spent around £90m of a transfer budget which was alleged to stand at around £100m this summer. The bank balance would only need to be stretched slightly to accommodate one more signing.

They’re also most certainly in the market for a left winger, and somewhat ironically saw a bid for Igor Paixão collapse when Marseille themselves managed to outmanoeuvre Leeds in negotiations last month.

A complicating factor, if Leeds are genuinely interested in Rowe, could be that Leeds may feel compelled to wait on a deal for Manor Solomon before making a bid for another player. The Spurs winger spent last season on loan at Elland Road and had been expected to make a permanent switch, but progress has been slow.

Stories from earlier this week suggested that a breakthrough was close with Spurs set to sign Eberechi Eze, but now that deal has suddenly collapsed, it may be that Spurs hold off on selling Solomon once more, and that Leeds are left in limbo, with no certainty as to whether they need Rowe or another left winger.

As such, it’s hard to call a deal for Rowe all that likely, with Bologna moving at speed and Leeds in a position where they may feel uneasy about making an immediate offer. But if a deal did take place, would Rowe make a difference to Leeds’ bid to stay in the Premier League?

Why Rowe could be a big boost to Leeds’ survival chances

Rowe’s stats from his debut season in Marseille don’t leap off the page. He scored three goals in 30 games across all competitions and added four assists, a far cry from the 20 combined goal contributions he was responsible for in his final season with Norwich City in the Championship.

Rowe, however, was primarily used as a back-up by Marseille manager Roberto Di Zerbi, and on a minute-by-minute basis he either scored or set up the equivalent of 0.73 goals every 90 minutes – actually a faster rate than he managed at Norwich, and evidence that the step up to a ‘big five’ league hadn’t daunted him one bit.

His performances for England in the European Under-21 Championship in Slovakia this summer also suggested a young player growing into a real force down the wing. He played in all six of England’s matches, scored both in the final and against Czechia in the opening game, and looked threatening in the final third throughout the tournament.

Rowe is especially adept at using his speed and sharp movement to find and exploit space down the flanks, recording exceptionally high numbers for long-distance pass receptions and touches in the box, while winning an impressive number of one-on-one battles with the ball at his feet.

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In short, any team that wants to play direct, counter-attacking football would love to exploit Rowe’s knack for getting into space in the attacking third and for converting that space into chances for himself and others. He plays at pace, and would suit teams who do the same – and Leeds don’t have many other players on the books who have proven that they can score and create goals at the top level as frequently as Rowe did last season when he was given chances.

Clearly, the bust-up with Rabiot means that there must be question marks over his character, and there is little time for Leeds to do their research before deciding whether to make a move – but plenty of young players have made bad mistakes and gone on to mature into fine players and good presences in the dressing room.

With exact details of the altercation with Rabiot not available as it stands, it’s hard to judge whether it should be treated as good cause for clubs to stay away, and nor do we yet know Rowe’s own feelings and response to the incident, which would naturally shape an assessment of whether he deserves a second chance.

But it can be said with confidence that he is a fine player and a growing threat down the left flank at the top level – and if Leeds are convinced that the incident at Marseille was a one-off from which Rowe will learn and grow, perhaps it’s worth taking a chance on a deal that didn’t seem likely to be on the table a week ago.