Leeds United's chances of signing Roland Sallai become clearer | OneFootball

Roland Sallai is set to switch from SC Freiburg to Galatsaray after Leeds United missed out on the forward in the summer.

Leeds United's interest in Roland Sallai remained all the way up until transfer deadline day but the versatile SC Freiburg forward looks set to move to Galatasaray instead.

The Turkish giants are great rivals of Leeds ever since a UEFA Cup semi-final clash between the sides back in April 2000 when two supporters of the West Yorkshire side, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, lost their lives following a knife attack.

Leeds not only missed out but are set to see him join one of their rivals, with Fabrizio Romano revealing that the Hungarian international is heading to Istanbul ahead of a switch from Germany to Turkey.

After initially being rebuffed by the Bundesliga club, Graham Smyth of The Yorkshire Evening Post revealed via his newsletter that Sallai re-emerged as a target, explaining how the 27-year-old was a player the club liked, and he remained firmly among the ‘list’ of players that the recruitment team were drawing up as they looked to get a few deals done late on in the window.

The player was said to be keen on a move to Leeds this summer, according to Sacha Tovolieri, but nothing materialised in the end, and it looked as though Sallai may remain with his current side until at least January.

Roland Sallai rejects Leeds move for Galatsaray

According to German outlet BILD, the player was not willing to drop into the Championship with Leeds, and he looked as though he had instead decided to remain at Freiburg until at least January. That's after reports on deadline day emerged from GiveMeSport that talks were underway regarding a fee of close to £10 million.

However, Sacha Tovolieri then poured cold water on those links, as he believed a move was unlikely, and that there was growing pessimism at striking an agreement, which turned out to be the case.

The latest comes from Turkish journalist Sergen Dağ of FOTOMAC, who has revealed that Leeds agreed a fee of around €8-9 million for Sallai on deadline day, but he turned down the deal to sign with Leeds and is instead set to switch to one of Turkey's biggest clubs.

Fabrizio Romano has since revealed that Sallai is set to arrive in Istanbul today to sign for Galatasaray from Freiburg for a transfer fee of even less than that, as they will pay around €6 million.

FLW sources have revealed that Leeds were offering the highest wages of any of the teams interested in Sallai as the English window drew to a close, but that he wanted a move to a top-flight side.

In the event that nothing materialised, he was happy to remain at Freiburg but was not keen on a move to France as he is not fluent in French as he is German or English. Galatasaray are a side competing in European football this season, and that was always a priority for Sallai.

Sallai could not be convinced of dropping down to the Championship. However, BILD report that his sale would have been ‘important’ for the German club’s balance sheet. That is because Sallai is entering the final year of his contract with Freiburg, and they were keen to cash in as opposed to losing him on a free transfer in less than 12 months.

It perhaps explains why they have now instead struck a deal with Galatasaray for less money than Leeds proposed, as opposed to seeing Sallai languish on their bench until January.

Leeds' ambition with Roland Sallai

Sallai was always likely to be an ambitious move, meaning that the signing would have represented outstanding pedigree and pulling power shown by the Whites, given his obvious proven quality. Many Leeds fans were keen on the idea of adding someone who should be too good for the division that they are in.

Sallai's stance could have changed between now and January, but Leeds fans instead have to see him sign for a rival club. His reputation and quality made him difficult to attain whilst still a second tier side, and a player of his talents was always likely to have interest all across Europe if he was available.

Sallai belongs in top-flight football, which complicated any move from Leeds, even though he would have undoubtedly improved their squad after they faced a second squad exodus in as many summers.

They did manage to save face by bringing in Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon in the closing stages of the window, whilst Brenden Aaronson is also in the mix as a returning player from loan, giving Leeds multiple options in attack again this year.