Since Joe Rodon joined Leeds United on a season-long loan from Tottenham Hotspur, he's started 27 out of a possible 30 Championship games, including the last 22 in a row. While he ranks fifth in the overall squad leaderboard for minutes played (2,674), he leads the way among defenders.
On Saturday, Rodon once again played the full 90 minutes as Leeds beat Rotherham 3-0 to make it six wins on the bounce and continue an amazing streak of defensive form. Across that sequence of victories, Daniel Farke's side have only shipped a single goal.
The manager has publicly confirmed that Leeds want to keep the Welshman, who won their player of the month award in December, both because of his footballing ability and his intangible attributes. He said:
"Behind the scenes, we are working. There is no doubt we are more than happy with Joe,” Farke said. He is growing into this club more and more, a leader role, you see how much it means to him to wear this white shirt.
"He is just happy to be here. He is crucial. We are more than happy. We would like him to stay for a bit longer, but right now it is not an urgent topic – he will stay for us until the end of the season."
It's recently been reported that, for Leeds to sign Rodon, they need to get promoted back to the Premier League. There's no option to buy in their loan agreement with Spurs, so they'll need to open fresh negotiations over a longer-term deal.
Spurs demand £15m for Rodon
Football Insider journalist Pete O'Rourke has now shared a fresh Rodon to Leeds update. He reports that Spurs want between £10m and £15m to sell him in the summer, a valuation that put off "multiple" Premier League clubs during the January window.
Ange Postecoglou wants to offload Rodon and bank a healthy windfall, but Leeds may struggle to afford it unless they return to the top flight, and it will be difficult to convince the player to choose them too.
Premier League funds essential for Rodon deal
You only need to look at last summer's transfer window to see the difficulty of doing a £15m deal for a Championship club. Only two incoming second-tier transfers (where the fee was disclosed) surpassed eight figures – Leicester's £10m move for Harry Winks and Southampton's £15m deal for Shea Charles.
Leeds have a “beast in the making” waiting to replace Joe Rodon
Leeds United could look towards their youth if a permanent deal for Joe Rodon can’t be reached.
ByKelan Sarson
By contrast, in 2022/23, when Leeds were last in the Premier League, they signed four different players for a fee of £15m or more and shelled out nearly double that figure to land Brenden Aaronson from RB Leipzig, as you can see in the table below.
Brenden Aaronson
RB Salzburg
£28m
Georginio Rutter
Hoffenheim
£24m
Luis Sinisterra
Feyenoord
£21m
Tyler Adams
RB Leipzig
£15m
Rasmus Kristensen
RB Salzburg
£11m
Max Wober
RB Salzburg
£10m
Marc Roca
Bayern Munich
£10m
Darko Gybai
Man City
£5m
Wilfried Gnonto
FC Zurich
£3.8m
Weston McKennie
Juventus
Loan
Joel Robles
Real Betis
Free
Sonny Perkins
West Ham
Free
Then there's the problem of attracting players. If Rodon is offered the chance to start games in the Premier League, then it's highly unlikely that he'll favour the Championship, regardless of the bond he's forged with supporters.