Noel Whelan believes that Leeds United striker Kemar Roofe will attract interest in the summer transfer window and has identified the types of sides likely to make a play for the 26-year-old.
Roofe, who scored during Leeds’ 1-0 win over Derby County in the first leg of the side's Championship playoff semi-final at Pride Park, missed the return leg on Wednesday due to injury.
And his absence was felt heavily as the hosts allowed their slender advantage to slip as Derby mounted a dramatic comeback to win 4-3 on aggregate and earn their ticket to the final at Wembley.
Despite missing out on promotion with the Whites, Roofe finished as the club’s top scorer for the season after netting 15 goals in all competitions under Marcelo Bielsa.
As such, Whelan has admitted there will be several clubs eyeing launching a move to land Roofe during the summer transfer window in England.
The former White thinks Roofe will not be short of admirers and feels Leeds should consider potential replacements, just in case of the worst case scenario where the striker departs in the summer. He also picked out those types of sides he feels will be keen on Roofe.
“When strikers are scoring goals, he’s scored 15 [this season], of course he’s going to be looked at”, Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds' Noel Whelan Show.
“I always think it’s going to be maybe a side that has either come down from the Premier League or someone who has just gone up [to the top flight from the Championship].
“Just in preparation [so that], if they do come back down, they’d give him that option to have a crack at it.
“26 as they say is your prime time, but the next four years and you are through to the 30s, so he is in it now.
“Of course, teams will be looking at certain players, goalscorers because they are hard to come by, so it’s whether or not we can replace that.”
Roofe will enter the final year of his contract at Elland Road this summer and Leeds held off opening talks on a new deal due to uncertainty over the division they would be in next term.
