Leeds United’s Liam Cooper has just hours before completing a life-changing move from Elland Road.
This summer, numerous players have been linked with moves to Saudi Arabia, but few football fans anticipated Leeds United captain Liam Cooper to be one of them.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s January move to Al-Nassr opened the door for a slew of talent to leave prominent clubs in Europe and head to the Middle East.
Neymar, Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Fabinho, N’Golo Kante, Aymeric Laporte and Jordan Henderson are among the biggest names to move to the Saudi Pro League – and Cooper could have been listed alongside those household names earlier this summer.
On Saturday (2 September), Athletic journalist Phil Hay revealed that the 32-year-old Leeds captain had turned down a move to Saudi Arabia during the summer transfer window.
Instead of joining the likes of Ronaldo and Neymar in the Middle East, he is said to have elected to stay at Elland Road and has been open to signing a new contract with his current terms expiring next year.
Sadly for the Hull-born Scotland international, he played against Cardiff City on the first day of the season, scoring a goal in the 2-2 draw at Elland Road, and hasn’t played since due to an ankle injury.
Cooper’s getting to the back end of his career now.
He’ll be the first to admit that last season wasn’t good enough by his standards as Leeds were relegated from the Premier League. Last term, the ex-Hull centre-back also managed to play just 18 times in the league due to multiple spells out of the side with injury and fitness issues.
Cooper’s not long turned 32 years old and with injury issues mounting and his form not being too great, who’s to say that a move to Saudi Arabia could still be on the cards before their transfer window closes at 10pm (British time) on Thursday, 7 September.
Based on the sums paid to players from Saudi Arabian teams this summer, Cooper’s move will be life-changing.
Of course, he’s not generally mentioned alongside Ronaldo, Neymar, and Benzema when discussing the surge of quality to the Saudi Pro League (maybe he’s more on par with the Jason Denayer signing at Al-Fateh).
But that wouldn’t matter to Cooper if money was on the table.
If he has similar injury problems for Leeds this season, who is to guarantee he will even play 50% of the club’s Championship games?
Even if he is fit, will he be able to replace Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, or Charlie Cresswell?
Cooper’s time in the spotlight at Leeds ended a long time ago, and we wouldn’t mind if he headed to Saudi Arabia in the next 24 hours or so, notwithstanding what he told the squad at the end of last season when relegation was inevitable.
