Simon Grayson is not ruling out moves to bring Lee Bowyer, Alan Smith and Jonathan Woodgate back to Leeds.
Leeds manager looking to make progress in the transfer market
Leeds United manager Simon Grayson is not ruling out moves to bring Lee Bowyer, Alan Smith and Jonathan Woodgate back to Elland Road this summer.
Bowyer and Woodgate are available on free transfers after leaving Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, while Smith has been told he can leave Newcastle United.
Whites chairman Ken Bates has already opened the door for Smith to rejoin the club, seven years after his acrimonious departure to Manchester United.
The midfielder's wages have been mooted as a potential stumbling block and Grayson says there have not been detailed discussions with Smith and Woodgate.
Grayson is pursuing several transfer targets, but confirmed Smith and Woodgate are under consideration as he looks to improve his squad.
Ambition
"I have had conversations, though not necessarily with the players themselves. That is how it is in football," Grayson told the
Yorkshire Post when asked if there had been direct contact with Smith and Woodgate.
"If anything, it has more been agents ringing me, or people claiming to represent them. There are plenty asking the question and we have to consider it because when good players become available you have to be interested.
"But you have to look at the other side too - finances, injuries and things like that. Like any signing, you have to make sure all the ingredients are right.
"Jonathan has not played too much football and Alan missed quite a bit of last season. If you had a fit Jonathan Woodgate and a fit Alan Smith then you would have a host of clubs queueing up for them in the Premier League.
"The one thing we have got going for us is that they know the club and our ambition. That could help us if we go down that line but there is a long way to go before we even start considering it.
"We are interested in good players but that doesn't mean those two will necessarily be signing for us. I have got many irons in the fire.
"I am a long way down the line with those other players at this moment in time."
Regarding Bowyer's possible return, Grayson added: "Lee Bowyer is another good player and we are aware he is available, as all the other 91 managers in the country will be. We all get the same list.
"But I have not spoken to Lee yet, even though he is a name that keeps being thrown around along with Leeds United.
"I am sure Lee Bowyer will have opportunities in the Premier League. But we have the ambition to match teams from the Premier League, if that is an avenue we choose to go down."
