Leeds keen on re-signing Gradel

Leeds United manager Brian McDermott has confirmed he is keen to lure Saint-Etienne winger Max Gradel back to Elland Road in January.

The 26-year-old is held in high regard by Leeds fans after helping clinch promotion from League One in 2010, with his spell there yielding 25 goals from 76 league appearances, including 18 in the 2010-11 campaign.

Gradel has endured mixed fortunes since leaving to join Saint-Etienne in 2011 as he ruptured a cruciate knee ligament in March, but is now back to full fitness and scored the winner in last Friday’s 1-0 Ligue 1 victory over Montpellier.

McDermott is looking to bolster his squad in next month’s transfer window as Leeds target a Premier League return when the season ends in May – which will mark exactly a decade since dropping out of the top flight – with Ivory Coast international Gradel one player the former Reading boss is running the rule over.

“I know Max Gradel, he was here a couple of years ago,” McDermott said in an interview published on the club’s official website.

“He’s been a bit unfortunate with a couple of injuries since he left here. He’s a player all Leeds fans know and love.

“I remember him playing against one of my teams before and he did really well. I have a target of two or three players that we’ll look at in January.

“Max Gradel would be on a list of players we like, but there’s more than that. You have to have options.

“There are players who we think could improve us and if one of those is Max Gradel and we do something then great, if it’s not and we don’t, you move on, but there are players out there I think can make a difference.”