SCORENigeria can exclusively report that Premier League clubs Leeds United and Aston Villa were also interested in signing Kano-born Alhassan Yusuf before he finally sealed his transfer to ambitious Belgian club Antwerp.
A top source who is familiar with the midfielder’s transfer negotiations told SCORENigeria: “Yes, there was late interest from Aston Villa and even a meeting with Leeds United for Alhassan Yusuf.
“But the negotiations between IFK Goteborg and Antwerp were far advanced as the Swedish club were desperate to sell as the player only had a year left on his contract and next year he could walk away a free agent.”
SCORENigeria further gathered that Yusuf’s case may even have been discussed at the board level at Leeds.
Interestingly, the midfielder, who has been widely compared to N’Golo Kante, has interested several Premier League clubs in recent times even though he has yet to represent Nigeria at any international level.
Linus Petersson of Swedish newspaper Goteborgs-Posten said Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United made offers for Yusuf previously.
“Sheffield United made an offer, but Gothenburg refused,” the journalist revealed.
“In the summer of 2019, he was in the radar of Wolverhampton, but his work permit stood in the way of a transfer.”
Newly promoted Brentford were also recently linked to the former FC Hearts star.
“There was a lot of interest initially when he broke through (the first team). Since then, it has probably become a little smaller, partly based on the team’s performance but also that people might have expected more from him when it started so well,” further explained IFK Goteborg sports director Pontus Farnerud.
