Leeds United “like” Manchester City defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis as they consider a move to bring him to the Championship, according to reliable journalist Beren Cross.
Who is Taylor Harwood-Bellis?
Harwood-Bellis is primarily a centre-back who graduated from the academy at the Etihad Stadium to get promoted to the first team fold back in 2021, but having only ever made eight senior appearances under Pep Guardiola, he’s spent the majority of his career out on loan trying to gain as much experience as possible.
The England youth international has carried out four respective spells with Blackburn Rovers, Anderlecht, Stoke City and most recently last season he was at Burnley, and as a result of his contract with his parent club expiring in less than a year, his future is looking extremely uncertain.
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According to 90min, West Ham, Fulham, Brentford and Newcastle are all interested in a swoop for the 21-year-old whilst the Clarets want to take him back on a permanent basis, and even though the report states that the talented prospect wants to succeed at City, he knows that he’ll have to complete a move elsewhere should he want to receive regular game time moving forward.
Are Leeds signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis?
Taking to Twitter, Cross revealed that Leeds have now identified Harwood-Bellis as an ideal summer target alongside Liverpool’s Nathaniel Phillips, who is also being closely assessed. He wrote:
“Centre-back seems where Leeds are focusing energy next in the window. Phillips and Harwood-Bellis among names they like. Elsewhere, we've been here before with injured strikers. Radrizzani never got on top of it. 49ers have a month to put it right.”
How good is Taylor Harwood-Bellis?
Leeds are extremely short in the centre-back department having sanctioned the temporary exits of Robin Koch and Maximilian Wober ,so the club are in desperate need of reinforcements in the heart of the defence, and having been dubbed a “warrior” by journalist Josh Bunting, Harwood-Bellis would be a fantastic recruit should he sign on the dotted line.
The Stockport-born talent, whose price tag is £15m, last season averaged 3.1 clearances and 2.8 aerial wins per match in his 32 second-tier appearances for Burnley, via WhoScored, so isn’t afraid to put his body on the line and is a strong physical presence off the ground, but he’s also capable of getting involved with the action in the final third.
The 6 foot 2 colossus has racked up 15 goal contributions (ten goals and five assists) in 176 appearances since the start of his career and ranks in the 96th percentile for progressive passes, highlighting his desire to push his team as high up the pitch as possible when playing out from the back.
Furthermore, Harwood-Bellis already knows what it takes to seriously compete and be successful in the Championship having been a part of Vincent Kompany's squad who achieved promotion back to the Premier League last season so he is the perfect profile of player for 49ers chiefs to be targeting, though whether an offer will be submitted yet remains a mystery.