Could Jonny Howson be headed home?

Jonny Howson could be headed home.

The Yorkshire-bred Howson is linked with a £4million move back to Elland Road this summer. The 28-year old player, who was sold to Norwich in 2012, is reportedly on the move with Norwich City looking to shed some contracts in the upcoming season. Leeds are reportedly interested in bringing him back, and look to be in the pole position to sign the midfielder. The new owner of the club could do worse to curry favor with the Leeds faithful than to bring back an extremely popular ex-player whose departure was seen as a failure of previous ownership to invest in moving the team forward to the Premier League.

Howson made over 180 league appearances for Leeds United in his six years at the club from 2006 to 2012, and scored 23 goals in the league, with 28 goals overall in 225 appearances in all competitions. His transfer away from the team was extremely unpopular with fans, as most saw it as a lack of ambition from Ken Bates and the Leeds ownership at the time. Since his departure, Howson has gone out of his way to applaud the Leeds fans on his visits to Elland Road, and while modern footballers are a mercenary lot, Howson seems to really feel a connection with the club and with the fans.

Howson is already a fan favorite and legend at the club. He scored twice in the playoff victory in 2008 against Carlisle United to send Leeds to Wembley, including a last-minute winner, and was even club captain in the 2011-12 season. He is a local boy that grew up rooting for United and joined the academy at age nine. Football needs more of these kinds of stories, and Howson returning to his roots is too perfect. The club has to make this transfer happen.