Leeds United are yet to recruit any new additions this summer despite the Championship season commencing in just three weeks and now a new update has emerged on a potential transfer target.
What's the latest on Leeds' interest in Paddy McNair?
According to TEAMtalk, Leeds are one of the clubs interested in signing Middlesbrough centre-back Paddy McNair.
As per the report, the Championship club are willing to listen to offers for their defender this summer and Leeds will need to compete with a number of clubs to secure McNair's signature with Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United, Fulham, Bournemouth and Leicester City also named as potential suitors.
How good is Paddy McNair?
Daniel Farke has a huge challenge on his hands to meet the expectations at Elland Road next season, as anything short of automatic promotion back to the Premier League next season would be a disaster for the West Yorkshire outfit.
It has been a transformative summer for the Whites with a full take-over by the 49ers confirmed, a new head coach appointed and several players making an exit from the club upon their relegation.
Robin Koch, Rodrigo, Brenden Aaronson, Weston McKennie and Rasmus Kristensen have departed so far, with the latter the latest Leeds player to confirm a move, signing for Serie A club Roma on a season-long loan.
As a result, the signing of McNair could be a great opportunity for Farke to bolster the defensive presence on the pitch to replace Kristensen and provides the squad with a player who has a wealth of experience in the Championship ahead of next season.
Over 30 Championship appearances last season, the 28-year-old scored one goal, tallied up an 83% pass completion rate and won the majority of his duels combined (59%), as well as averaging 63.2 touches, 2.1 clearances and 1.3 tackles per game, proving that he is a reliable and consistent defensive presence.
Not only that, McNair has displayed strong versatility in his positioning with experience on both sides of the centre-back partnership, defensive midfield and right-back, something that could be incredibly valuable to Farke when deploying his team over the 46-game campaign.
When comparing the ball-playing Northern Irishman to Kristensen, McNair outperformed the Leeds defender in a number of key attributes over last season including pass completion (81.5% v 70.9%), percentage of dribblers tackled (63.3% v 55.3%) and aerial duels won (55.8% v 55.7%), as per FBref, demonstrating that he could be a worthy replacement.
The €3.9m-rated (£3.3m) Middlesbrough titan has earned high praise over his career, with international teammate and Leeds stalwart Stuart Dallas full of compliments for his compatriot back in 2019:
"He works hard, he’s fit and his running ability and how powerful he is are something else. You’d think the 90th minute was the first minute and it’s a credit to him."
With that being said, it would be a no-brainer for Leeds to sign McNair this summer as there is now definitely an opportunity to strengthen the backline, whilst his Championship experience could give the team a boost in their pursuit of dominating the second tier next season.