Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan thinks the Whites should tie down Lewis Cook and Charlie Taylor to new deals irrespective of whoever the club’s new manager will be.

The Yorkshire giants, who finished the 2015/16 campaign in 13th spot, are yet to offer head coach Steve Evans a new deal which will keep him in charge of the club next season.




As Evans’ Leeds future hangs in the balance, Fabio Cannavaro, Ivan Juric and John Sheridan amongst others have been linked with succeeding the Scot at Elland Road.

On the other hand, Leeds are also yet to begin contract extension talks with Cook and Taylor, who just have a year remaining on their present deals with the club.
 


The duo featured heavily for Leeds this term; while Cook made 47 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice and providing two assists, Taylor netted once and set up seven goals in 43 games.

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And Whelan is of the opinion that Leeds should move in quickly to extend the contracts of the pair, who are on the radar of several Premier League clubs.

“There has been no movement with contracts for Lewis Cook or Charlie Taylor and that’s not down to any kind of manager, that’s down to the club getting that sorted out in general. They are a commodity”, he wrote in his column in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“They are two very, very excellent players which a lot of Premier League clubs are looking at and the chairman should be looking at that and saying ‘it doesn’t matter about having a manager, get them signed up as they are an investment for this club.’

“That is just as important as sorting out the manager, of course it is. Yes, you need to have a manager but you need good players and they are two excellent players.

“They are going through the England set up in the right way for their age and I’m pretty sure that both of them could possibly be full capped England players.

“Whoever the manager is, the club themselves and Mr Cellino need to get those two players signed up for next season because I am sure whoever the manager is, whether it’s Steve Evans or someone else, they will want quality players like that.”