Leeds set to sign Healy

Preston have agreed to sell David Healy to Coca-Cola Championship rivals Leeds.

The Yorkshire club have been chasing the Northern Ireland striker for several weeks but had yet to match North End chairman Derek Shaw’s asking price, which is yet to be revealed.

“We have stood firm and held out for a fee we feel is acceptable for a player of David’s standard, who would have been able to walk away for free in the summer,” said Shaw.

The transfer comes as reports in Yorkshire today suggested Leeds could be on the brink of a £25m (€35.9m) takeover by an American-based consortium.

The current Leeds board took charge last March and have since reduced crippling debts from over £100m (€143.8m) to just over £30m (€43.1m).

But, according to the Yorkshire Post, a £25m (€35.9m) deal to buy the club is close to completion.

The paper reports that Sebastien Sainsbury, the great grandson of the founder of Sainsbury’s supermarkets, is leading the British-American consortium, including leading officials of Nova Financial Partners.

Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner, responding to the report this morning, said: “We have no comment to make. When we know anything we will comment.”

However the club are understood to be holding a board meeting today to discuss the proposed deal.

In the meantime, the arrival of Healy will be a major boost for manager Kevin Blackwell as he bids to plot an immediate return to the Premiership. The 25-year-old striker will undergo a medical today and is expected to face Wigan at Elland Road on Sunday.

Shaw told www.pnefc.co.uk: “Leeds United have finally come back to me and offered what I asked them for two weeks ago.

“We have stood firm and held out for a fee we fell is acceptable for a player of David’s standard, who would have been able to walk away on a free transfer in the summer.^

“David told both myself and Billy (Davies, manager) that he wanted to leave the club and felt that Leeds were a big club with a lot of potential and as soon as he made that clear we just had to make sure we got a deal that was in the best interests of PNE.

“Although we intend to keep the fee undisclosed, as we intend to go to market, we have reached figure we wanted and will now move on and put this business behind us.”