Cody Gakpo: Jesse Marsch on Leeds' pursuit of Man Utd target

Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch has agonised over how close they came to signing Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven in the summer.

90min understands that after a deal in August fell through, Erik ten Hag is urging Manchester United to follow up their interest in Gakpo when the January transfer window opens.

Europe's elite are keeping a watchful eye on the Netherlands star, who was linked heavily with moves to Southampton and Leeds earlier this year.

But in an interview with Men In Blazers, Marsch has conceded that Leeds' hopes of signing Gakpo are probably over, and he opened up on how they so nearly secured a deal for the forward.

"It's difficult for us at Leeds because I think Gakpo's gotten out of our price range," American Marsch said ahead of the USMNT's World Cup battle with the Netherlands.

"I mean, we were so close to securing a transfer for him in the summer, it was so close, and now obviously it's disappointing.

"Our sport director was in Holland meeting with the family, they had agreed on terms, on everything, was talking with PSV. I mean, we were 99.9% [agreed]."

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Gakpo has been one of the stars of this winter's World Cup, scoring in all three of the Netherlands' matches thus far.

At club level, he's contributed nine goals and 12 assists in 14 games for PSV in the Eredivisie this term, while he played a key role in their Europa League triumph against Arsenal.