Leeds United Close to Completing Shea Charles Signing

He studied journalism at the University of South Wales and published a football book, named Bluebird Heaven, around the same time with Pitch Publishing.

Since then, Jamie has continued to specialise in football journalism, PR and football-related Spanish translation. He has worked with a number of media companies, including Reach PCL, Iconic Group and many more over a decade-long career. Sign in to your GiveMeSport account Leeds United are said to be working on a sizeable deal to land a defensive midfielder this summer. The Whites are hoping to add to a number of key areas to give Daniel Farke every chance on building on what was a solid first season back in the Premier League.

The Whites were involved in the relegation battle, but they were never in deep trouble, only flirting with the drop having been a difficult team to beat for most of the season.

Leeds now have a platform to build upon, and now is the time to invest if they want to avoid suffering from the Premier League's second season syndrome. It seems the Yorkshire club plan on doing just that.

Leeds are said to be working on a deal to land Southampton midfield talent Shea Charles, who played a key role in helping the Saints to the play-offs and the play-off final, although they were later kicked out due to the spygate scandal.

Charles made 38 appearances across all competitions, scoring six and providing a couple of assists from the holding midfield position. The 22-year-old was picked up by the Saints at a young age after he spent a decade coming through at Manchester City, and they are now set to cash in.

The Sun's Jack Rosser reports: "Leeds closing in on the signing of Shea Charles from Southampton. Southampton want more than initial £20m bid but talks continuing and a deal thought to be close."

Charles has continued to improve and progress over recent years, and even before he made it to Southampton, he was tipped for big things by Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill, who said at the time: "I thought Shea was outstanding, I have to say. Out of possession, the amount of balls he recovered and won from being second favourite. And then to use the ball the way he does.

"Shea was always a player we looked to build up passing, but his ability now to carry the ball from midfield. At this level, he looks so comfortable. He is 20 years of age and playing against (Georgi) Kostadinov who has 45 international caps.

"Shea blows players away at times. I think regular game time at club level is the thing that Shea has been lacking, and he gets that at international level. He knows he will play with us and have a lot of responsibility, and he loves it. It fuels him and he takes it in his stride. He is a massive player for us."