Leo Hjelde’s transfer from Leeds United to Sunderland is expected to be completed by Wednesday morning (January 31), according to Adam Pope.
On the morning of January 29, a BBC journalist tweeted that the Norwegian’s departure from Elland Road was expected within the “next 24-48 hours”.
The 20-year-old defender began the Championship opener under Daniel Farke but fell out of favour and was dropped to the under-21s, prompting the Whites to accept a £2 million proposal for him [Fabrizio Romano, 29 January].
Pope released the following statement: “Hjelde deal to Sunderland expected to happen over next 24-48 hours.”
He will be the fourth Leeds defender to leave permanently this month, following the early termination of Djed Spence’s loan from Tottenham, Luke Ayling’s loan to Middlesbrough, which will see out his Elland Road contract, and Robin Koch, who is already on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt for the remainder of his own Whites deal, signing a pre-contract to stay in Germany.
Numbers are declining
Hjelde has yet to establish himself in the Leeds United first squad since joining from Celtic in August 2021 for a sum of more than £1 million [Yorkshire Evening Post].
He has made eight professional appearances in that time, and his old under-23s teammate Charlie Cresswell is also struggling for playing time under Farke, but given the manager has stated that he has no ambitions for the kid, a sale seems logical.
There haven’t been many successes from the academy in recent seasons, with even Joe Gelhardt and Cresswell‘s development stalled.
Archie Gray, 17, has rushed through to outperform all of the older choices, but the path hasn’t been apparent, and the previous regime’s investment in filling up the academy hasn’t yielded tremendous results.
Hjelde will join Sam Greenwood at the Stadium of Light on a loan-to-buy deal worth £1.5 million, which will most likely be made permanent, and it might be the fresh start he needs.
He was extensively linked with a move to Salernitana during the summer transfer window, and he has only slipped further down the pecking order at Leeds United since then, so a sale at this point was probably the logical outcome.
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