Leeds United transfer news: Championship side complete £400,000 signing of Newcastle United keeper and former Hull City and Middlesbrough FC target Karl Darlow
He has signed a three-year deal until the summer of 2026.
Darlow was given permission by Magpies chief Eddie Howe to leave the club’s pre-season training camp in the US and jet back to England to finalise a move a couple of days ago.
Darlow’s representatives have been in advanced talks with Leeds for some time, with the prospects of a switch increasing after top-flight outfit Bournemouth agreed a loan deal with Inter Milan to sign Andrei Radu on a season-long loan and ended their interest in the Newcastle custodian.
United’s Yorkshire rivals Hull City and Middlesbrough were also keen on Darlow earlier this summer.
The 32-year-old impressed in a loan spell in East Yorkshire last term, but the transfer demands of his parent club and the financial package involved has ensured that City decided to look elsewhere.
Boro were also reportedly struggling to match Darlow’s wage demands with the Teessiders instead electing to bring in QPR keeper Seny Dieng as their first-choice keeper.
Darlow, who had started Newcastle’s first two games in pre-season, has become Leeds’s second signing of the close season following on from the arrival of Chelsea midfielder Ethan Ampadu for an initial £7m, rising to £10m with performance-related add-ons.
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West Ham were quick to swoop after the striker, then 20, decided to leave Manchester United at the end of his contract following a productive loan spell at Barnsley, who he helped to a Wembley double in 2015-16.He featured 20 times for the Hammers in that 2016-17 campaign and while it did not go swimmingly, it did not stop Middlesbrough shelving out £6.5m to sign him the following summer. Time was on his and Boro’s side.
Fast forward to now and It is not doing the forward – now 27 and in the colours of Sheffield Wednesday – a disservice to say that his career graph has not moved back upwards since.
Fletcher showed the odd flash of his talent at Boro, but struggled for consistency and would leave when his contract expired at the end of the 2020-21 season.
A move to Watford – when he linked up with recently appointed Owls chief Xisco Munoz – did not yield any significant upturn. Although Xisco clearly did see enough to convince him to offer him another chance at his current club.
Given the publicity surrounding his switches to West Ham and Boro, Fletcher’s move to Hillsborough did not get too much of a mention outside Yorkshire in comparison.
His career has stood still for a while and the likeable frontman, born in Keighley, but raised in Bolton, acknowledges that.
Those who lauded him a while back have since forgotten about him – and this chance at Hillsborough is likely to represent his last big opportunity to get it right at a big club.
Fletcher, who has joined on a season-long loan from Watford, said: “There’s no denying that the last couple of years have not gone to plan for me.
“I have kind of been in neutral and that’s not where I wanted my career to go. But people have set-backs and I am big enough to admit that.
“It’s all about me putting it right and getting back on track.”
There is one school of thought that might that suggest that big-money contracts at West Ham, Boro and Watford might have dimmed Fletcher’s ambition and hunger somewhat.
It is a charge he emphatically disputes. Perhaps more than anything, he just needs a manager who puts faith in him and understands him.
Fletcher, whose spent last season on loan at Wigan, continued: “If I wasn’t that driven, I’d have sat comfortably back at Watford. As a footballer, the most important thing for me is to play and that’s the main thing.
“I’ve always gone searching to play, whether it has worked out or not. Here, I truly believe that we are going to have a good season and that the manager is going to get the best out of me and I am looking forward to the future.
“I think it’s probably the most important year in my career if I’m honest. The past couple of years haven’t been what I expected and that’s down to me.”
Despite working back in the North West and away from Watford in pre-season, Fletcher is not ruling out being involved in the Owls’ EFL opener against next Friday.
He added: “In terms of match action, I have not got any yet, but I will maybe get 10 or 20 minutes on Saturday (against Luton) hopefully.
“The Southampton game is on the horizon as well and hopefully I can be involved.”
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