Exclusive: Leeds Tell Patrick Bamford He’s Not Needed – Burnley, Leicester, and Sunderland Ready to Pounce

Burnley, Sunderland and Leicester City have expressed an interest in signing unwanted Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford for a cut-price fee, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.

Former England international Bamford has struggled for regular games after falling down the Elland Road pecking order the past two seasons and didn’t start a single league game for the club last term.

Last season he played his fewest games for two seasons with just 16 league appearances as the club won the Championship crown, but all of those were fleeting moments as a second half impact substitute.

And earlier this month Leeds boss Daniel Farke revealed he had told the long-serving striker that he was surplus to requirements as the club embark on their first season back in the Premier League after a two-year absence.

Bamford, 31, has spent seven seasons with the club and famously helped the Whites clinch promotion to the Premier League in the 2019-2020 season.

INJURY-PLAGUED

He scored 17 goals in the club’s first season back in the top-flight but only played nine times the following season after injury forced him to miss much of the campaign.

Bamford scored four goals in 28 games the next season and has since failed to hit the heights he once achieved earlier in his career, failing to score at all last season in any competitions, albeit his playing time was drastically limited. 

The one-cap ex-England international is out of contract next June and the Yorkshire club are looking to cash in on the striker before he can leave on a free transfer.

Leicester, relegated back to the Championship, are desperate for a new striker after long-serving hitman Jamie Vardy left the club last month, while promoted Burnley and Sunderland – also back in the top-tier after respective absences – are eyeing Bamford as an experienced striker who could do a job for them as they look to avoid immediate relegation back to the second tier.

HONEST CONVERSATION

“With Patrick, I had a really open and honest conversation,” revealed Farke in a recent interview. “I would have preferred a completely fit Patrick Bamford in the last two seasons.

“He knows how much I rate him as a person. It was the second day of pre-season when I told him in my office he wasn’t part of my plans for the upcoming Premier League season, due to the fact he’s had really difficult years over the past years."

“For me, Patrick is someone who needs to be the main man. If he gets this, he will score goals at every level because he’s a top player, but after the last few seasons, I wasn’t willing to do this and say he was our main man at Premier League level."

Farke added: “With the CV he’s had at Leeds United, he shouldn’t be a back-up option. This is not what you should be when you are the main man for so many years."

“He has trained really professionally and his reaction was top-class, as expected. He liked the openness and honesty."

“Patrick has done so much for this club over the last seven years, winning two promotions. He trained with us over the first two weeks, but I told him, once we go to the training camp, I will reduce the striker group, so that’s why I made this cut right now.”