When Leeds United are concerned, there is usually always drama.

Whether it was the Dan James saga of 2019 or the controversies surrounding spygate, this is a club who know how to make the headlines.

To sum it all up, they now even possess a player called Cody Drameh in their academy. 

2020 has had it's fair share of headline moments too. 

The Whites are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2004 and they have broken their transfer record by paying £30m to bring Rodrigo back to English football.

If that wasn't enough, their opening two matches of the season resulted in 4-3 scorelines as Leeds suffered defeat to Liverpool but then beat Fulham. 

This has been a whirlwind period for everyone associated with Leeds, and it got even crazier on Thursday night when a deal to sign Michael Cuisance from Bayern Munich ended in disaster. Why? Because the deal fell through after the midfielder failed his medical.

Cuisance

As a result, Leeds will have to look for alternatives. On that front, we bring you both good and bad news.

The good is that they have someone in mind. The bad news is, they've had a bid rejected.

In recent days, we've seen rumours gather pace regarding Cagliari powerhouse Nahitan Nandez. The 31-cap Uruguay international has been catching the eyes of those at Leeds, so much so that they even made a formal offer.

That's the word of Centotrentuno who published a report exploring Leeds' interest. 

They say that Andrea Radrizzani and Tommaso Giulini, a director at Cagliari are good friends, and therefore discussed a possible move.

Radrizzani put £30m on the table for Nandez but that was rejected. Although it was a lot of money, the Serie A side had no interest in selling him so late in the window. 

"Nahitan and Simeone have liked Bielsa for a long time, but such a negotiation cannot be set up four days before the end of the market. We're going to get weaker and that's not what we want to do," Giulini said

Nandez

GIVEMESPORT'S Matt Dawson says...

Nandez is the definition of a robust midfielder. He picked up 14 yellow cards in the Italian top-flight last term, demonstrating his eye-catching approach to the game of football. 

It says a lot about his qualities that Leeds were prepared to pay £12m more than they were going to for Cuisance.

A deal, just as it was for Rodrigo de Paul, looks difficult to complete, but what sort of a player would they have been getting? Let's compare Nandez to Cuisance. 

For starters, they are both willing tacklers of the ball. When playing regularly for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 2017/18 season, he won 1.3 tackles per game. Nandez's tally in that regard last term was 1.7

Cuisance

For someone who plays further forward, that's quite impressive from Cuisance. However, he doesn't actually boast the greatest offensive statistics compared to the Uruguayan, certainly in their career to date anyway. 

The Bayern midfielder managed just 0.2 more successful dribbles and 0.6 shots a match in comparison. Only time will tell whether Leeds come to rue that failed medical.