Is Leeds United really in for Newcastle United’s Jack Colback?

Jack Colback’s Newcastle United career seems to be coming to an end, as the player has basically been told that he’s surplus to requirements at the Tyneside club. He was apparently offered a choice of loan moves but he has been unable to crack the lineup and has been turning out for the Newcastle reserves. He was reportedly offered a choice of either Hull City or Wolverhampton, but chose to stay at Newcastle for “geographical” reasons. And while Wolverhampton is a bit of distance away from Newcastle, Hull is still pretty close, so exactly how far away is Colback willing to go?

Reports now indicate that Newcastle are looking to move Colback on, with either a loan or permanent move on the books, as they will be looking to save money on his 40k a week salary. But why would Leeds look to take on that salary?

Scouts from Leeds United and Birmingham City were apparently in attendance to watch Newcastle reserves play Reading FC reserves, but a move to Leeds doesn’t make a lot of sense for Colback for a variety of reasons.

First, the wage alone would exclude Leeds from his services unless it was heavily subsidized by the Premier League club. Leeds cannot afford those kind of wages in the Championship, and even Pierre-Michel Lasogga has had most of his 50k a week salary paid by Hamburger SV.

Second, Jack Colback is a central midfielder, which is a role that the club currently has a surplus on. While Colback is certainly more defensive oriented than say Eunan O’Kane, Leeds already let one “defensive” midfielder, Liam Bridcutt, leave the club during the summer transfer window, and Thomas Christiansen has been extremely committed to using Kalvin Phillips and Eunan O’Kane in the central midfield role, even keeping Ronaldo Vieira on the bench for much of the season so far, and has not given summer signing Mateusz Klich much playing time at all.

Someone in the Newcastle or Reading reserves might be a target for Leeds, but it’s most likely not Colback. He’s too expensive and doesn’t fill a need at the club. Like left-back. Or keeper.