The silly season is almost at a close, and with it come the rumors of finished deals. While Hamburger SV was left with a little egg on their face last night after tweeting out that Pierre-Michel Lasogga was going on loan to Leeds before the deal was absolutely finished, Lee Sobot of the Yorkshire Evening News was in no way going to jump the gun on the story about Pawel Cibicki officially joining from Malmo.
️ #LUFC pic.twitter.com/gNldvivVwS
— The Square Ball (@TheSquareBall) August 30, 2017
Sobot even so far as to post a story that said the deal wasn’t 100% done yet while pictures of Cibicki sitting at a desk with Victor Orta standing behind him had already gone viral and another one of the Swedish player standing on the pitch at Elland Road with a shirt in his hands. Sobot got a bunch of good-natured ribbing from Leeds fans on Twitter about his Tweet and his story, but I bet he’d rather get some grief from some fans than a furious phone call from the club if he had announced that Cibicki was done while the player was flying back to Malmo.
So while neither Lasogga or Cibicki has been offically confirmed by the club yet, expect both of them to be announced sometime today.
Leeds United Links
Ronaldo Vieira, still the best named footballer in England, spoke with the FA about his U20 call-up and what it means to him. [TheFA.com]
Stuart Dallas signed a new deal at Leeds to keep him at Elland Road for another three years. The announcement was overshadowed by all of the transfer rumors yesterday. [Through It All Together]
The Leeds Legends Club will honor three more greats: Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson, and Lucciano Becchio [Leeds United.com]
England and English football Links
Arsenal players want Alexis Sanchez sold, but will the club sell him? [NBCSports.com]
Watch ESPN is going to be showing League One matches this weekend. [World Soccer Talk]
Have you ever played FIFA or Football Manager and sold off all of your players and started over with new ones to see what would happen? I think that’s what Arsenal is trying to do right now. Only thing that makes sense. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain departs North London for Liverpool and £40 million heads back the other way. [BBC.com]
Speaking of Arsenal, the club shop was broken into and gobs of shirts that would have been donated to poor nations were stolen. [FourFourTwo.com]
World Football Links
CONMEBOL’s World Cup spots are still up in the air, with seven teams in the running for three automatic berths and a playoff spot. [FIFA.com]
David Villa got a Spain call-up while playing for New York City FC in MLS, so why hasn’t Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco? [MLSsoccer.com]