Crystal Palace and West Ham United will reportedly provide stiff competition to Newcastle United in the race to sign in-demand Leeds United prodigy Cody Drameh.
According to TEAMtalk, Crystal Palace and West Ham United have joined Newcastle United in the race for Cody Drameh. The 20-year-old Leeds United defender has just over 18 months left on his current deal at Elland Road and is reluctant to put pen to paper on a new deal after seeing “his path to the first team blocked” by summer signing Rasmus Kristensen.
Primarily a right-back by trade who can also be utilised as a left-back if needed, Drameh initially progressed through the ranks at Fulham’s academy before joining Leeds United in the summer of 2020. Drameh has since had a successful loan spell at Championship side Cardiff City, where he made 22 appearances and recorded three assists.
However, he has struggled to make an impact at Leeds United, making just seven senior appearances since his arrival. The 20-year-old has made only one appearance in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup for Leeds so far this season. He has spent most of his time with the Under-21s after falling behind Rasmus Kristensen and Luke Ayling in the pecking order.
The 20-year-old has expressed his dissatisfaction with his lack of playing time at Elland Road, and his contract rebel situation havs put a number of clubs on high alert as they look to snap up the promising youngster. West Ham United, Borussia Dortmund, Crystal Palace, and Newcastle United are looking to pounce on the situation.
Newcastle’s interest in Drameh stems from the lack of quality backups at right-back. They currently have Kieran Trippier as their first-choice option. But Emil Krafth is out for the season with a knee injury, and there are doubts hanging over the long-term future of out-of-favor defender Javier Manquillo.
The Magpies pushed hard to land West Ham’s young right-back youngster Harrison Ashby on the summer deadline day but were unable to get a deal over the line. They are still interested in Ashby, but Drameh matches their recruitment criteria as they are looking for a player who would not occupy one of their 25-man Premier League roster spots due to his homegrown status and under-21 age.
As for West Ham, their interest in Drameh is driven by the fact that both Ashby and first-choice right-back Vladimir Coufal are linked with moves away. Even with Coufal, they do lack quality depth in that area of the pitch and could make do with a couple of reinforcements.
They have recently been linked with Celtic’s Josip Jarunovic. But the Croat is also on the radars of Manchester United and Chelsea, so it will be difficult to prise him away. Drameh would be an excellent addition and will give the Hammers’ right-back unit berth a much-needed refresh.
Crystal Palace will view Drameh as an attractive proposition and will try to persuade him by offering a clearer path to senior football than the aforementioned Premier League clubs. Drameh is relatively unknown at the top level of English football, but he has a lot of potential and would be a wise addition for whichever club signs him.
