Leeds ‘swap deal lever’ to unlock £40m Jorgen Strand Larsen transfer with Wolves revealed by trusted source

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·20 janvier 2026

Leeds ‘swap deal lever’ to unlock £40m Jorgen Strand Larsen transfer with Wolves revealed by trusted source

Leeds United believe they “have a chance” at beating up to 12 other sides in the race to sign Jorgen Strand Larsen, as per a well-informed source, though TEAMtalk can explain why Wolves are happy to play the long game before jumping into any sort of transfer agreement.

The Norway international finds himself in huge demand this month and appears destined to leave Molineux after just 18 months in the Black Country. Signed in a July 2024 move from Celta Vigo for €30m (£26m, $35m), Strand Larsen has scored a pretty impressive 20 goals across his 61 Wolves games to date.

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That form across his debut campaign at Molineux saw him the subject of two failed summer bids from Newcastle, the second of which topped £55m (€64m, $74m).

Now, some five months after rebuffing the Magpies’ interest, we exclusively broke the news last week that Wolves are now open to the 25-year-old’s sale, with Leeds having made initial enquiries for his signing through intermediaries; our big reveal having been confirmed some 24 hours later by the trusted David Ornstein.

While our follow-up article on Monday revealed there are now as many as 12 clubs tracking Strand Larsen and with Wolves making clear they won’t budge on their baseline valuation of £40m, the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth is adamant Leeds United do fancy their chances of pulling off a club-record deal, with a rarely-seen Whites man potentially being used as bait.

“They must think there’s a chance, they must think there’s a way of doing it or else they wouldn’t have made an enquiry, and they wouldn’t have been so ready to admit they’ve made an enquiry,” Smyth told the Square Ball podcast.

“In the past, with Leeds, you’ve had a lot of ‘we think that one will be too difficult to do, we actually think he’s going elsewhere’. They try to protect themselves a bit by managing expectations.

“But we haven’t had that so much with this one. They [Leeds] have said it’s a difficult one, but they made no bones about the fact they’ve made an enquiry and he’s a player they very much like.

“They definitely think there’s a lot of competition because pretty much everyone in the bottom half of the Premier League would like to take him, but there’s no point in making an enquiry if you think there’s no way we can make this work PSR-wise.

“There must be a lever they think they can pull. I wonder if maybe that lever is Joel Piroe.”

Will Leeds use Joel Piroe as bait for Strand Larsen?

The Dutch striker has found minutes hard to come by this season, having fallen way down Daniel Farke’s pecking order and limited to just 10 appearances in the Premier League so far, though just two of those have been as a starter; and the last one way back in August.

With both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha both finding form in front of goal this season, we understand Leeds are open to the possibility of letting the 26-year-old leave if the right offer comes their way.

Leeds, though, are not forcing the player out, knowing he will potentially be needed as back-up and with the forward himself making clear his desire to stay and fight for a first-team chance.

With our sources revealing Middlesbrough are among those keen, Piroe has also recently been linked with a move to Celtic. However, the Whites’ owners, 49ers Enterprises, have swiftly blocked any such move given their ownership of the Bhoys’ arch-rivals, Glasgow Rangers.

However, if they can bring in a suitable replacement, then Leeds would be open to letting Piroe move on, meaning there is absolutely plenty of logic in Smyth’s suggestions that the Whites man could be used as bait to entice Wolves to cash in on Strand Larsen.

Piroe, as proved by his 33 goals in 97 Championship games for Leeds, is no stranger to scoring regularly in the second tier. Given Wolves are all-but resigned to relegation, a move to bring in Piroe now, ahead of what they hope will be a successful push for promotion next season, would certainly tick plenty of boxes for the Old Gold.

As for Strand Larsen, sources have told us that Wolves are in no immediate hurry to cash in on the Norwegian and are happy to bide their time to ensure their valuation is met before the January window closes for business.

Having turned down £55m in the summer, the club now wants to get as close to that deal as possible, with their negotiating power significantly weakened if doing so as a Championship club in the summer.

That said, a deal does look likely in the winter window, and this one may run close towards the deadline as a transfer game of chess ensues.

As it stands, Leeds are unlikely to be able to afford his outright £40m signing right now, but would hope to negotiate some sort of loan-to-buy arrangement that could potentially be aided by the inclusion of Piroe.