Sky Sports are today claiming that Coventry City and Brighton are planning a last minute swoop for Billy Paynter. 

The former Swindon Town striker has had a torrid time at Elland Road failing to reproduce the sensational goalscoring form he did in Wiltshere with just 1 goal in his 24 appearances to date.

His goal drought at Leeds has seen him dubbed “Barndoor Billy” by the Leeds United fans, and there has been constant calls for the manager to cut him loose and free ourselves of his expensive wages.

Paynter must feel the writing is on the wall for him at Leeds. Despite the long-term injuries of Davide Somma and Luciano Becchio, Billy is going to struggle for minutes on the pitch with Ross McCormack and loanee Andy Keogh playing so well. He also has Ramon Nunez for additional competition who has already scored five this season and can’t make the starting XI.

In other news, Mike Grella has been released by Leeds United so he can sign permanently with Brentford.

American striker Mike Grella has joined League One side Brentford on an emergency loan deal. His contract will be terminated later this week so Grella can sign a permanent deal with The Bees. 

Grella arrived at Elland Road in 2009 with great things expected of him. From day one, it was clear the American had potential, but it was potential that would never be fully realised with the Whites.

The American striker never seemed to fully grasp the English game. Leeds United not sending him out on loan sooner, instead leaving him to rot on the bench is one explanation for his unfulfilled potential.

But Grella had 42 chances to show us what he was made of and always seemed some way short of the finished product. In his two years at the club, Grella managed just 5 goals for The Whites, 4 of which came in the FA Cup against lower league opposition.

Certainly skilful, Mike Grella just didn’t seem to know when to shoot. He lacked the killer instinct top strikers have. When the crowd were screaming at the American to “hit it!”, Grella was too busy doing step-overs, or trying to work his way through a crowd of opposition players.

There’s no denying that Mike Grella’s time at Elland Road has been a disappointment to the player and club alike. Whilst not disappointed to see him leave, we still wish Mike all the best at Brentford. I genuinely hope he can develop into the player he always should have been and fire Brentford to glory.

Still with no real news to speak of, we resort to the national rags for a daily injection of controversy and scandal as they speculate on who we’ll sign and who will rob our prized assets, starting with a little known midfielder from Newcastle United who will cost us just £15,000 per week!

Newcastle offer sweetener to Leeds – The Sun

It’s the never-ending tale of the homegrown lad who deserted his team for their bitter rivals during a financial meltdown that saw his beloved Whites sink to the third tier of English football.

Calum Myth – as we’ve resorted to calling him because we’re sick of hearing his name – does seem to be a genuine target for Leeds boss Simon Grayson who has told of his admiration for the player and refused to rule out a move.

The stumbling block – as is always the case with Ken Bates led Leeds United – is money. For once, you can understand the concerns of our tight-fisted chairman however when you learn Myth is on a ridiculous £60,000 per week at the Looney Toons.

The Sun claim the Barcodes will stump up half of that for the final year of his contract and that Myth will accept a measly £15,000 a week from Leeds to join the club he loves. That’s £780,000 divided by the 6-7 injury-free games we’ll get from him – Deal!

Dudek in line to replace Schmeichel – The Mirror

Former Liverpool stopper Jersey Dudek is believed to be a target for Simon Grayson as he looks to replace Kasper Schmeichel following his £1.5m move to Leicester City.

Despite his credentials as a former Champions League winner who has played for Liverpool, Feyenoord and Real Madrid, you have to laugh this one away when you consider he’s 38 years old and managed just 12 appearances in the last four seasons – it’s also in The Mirror who haven’t got a Leeds rumour right in about 10 years so you can sleep easily tonight.

Max Gradel to West Ham – Various

Like all good stories, this one has picked up an extra twist today as various news outlets claim Leeds United have held unsuccessful talks with Max’s representatives and are now open to offers for their star winger.

His 18 goal contribution last season was always going to make him a target for Premier League clubs and when you add to that the fact he has just a year remaining on his contract this becomes an easily spinnable news story for anyone short of a headline.

Leeds have already rejected a superior offer for Max so the reported £2.5m from West Ham seems unlikely. However, with Ken Bates more focused on the development of the East Stand than he is the first team squad, the likelihood of him cashing in on players like Max increases – especially if the club can’t agree a contract extension with the Ivorian.

Other bits and bobs…

Mike Grella returned to training at Thorp Arch today but revealed on Twitter he is 99% sure he won’t start the season at Elland Road and is simply awaiting the right move. Elsewhere, Richard Naylor is on the brink of signing for Doncaster Rovers.

In our recent Loan Watch piece we stated that, in a move that slipped under the radar, Mike Grella had returned to Leeds after his loan spell at Swindon Town.

It has now come to light that Grella requested to return to Leeds after feeling he was not been given enough games. Relegation threatened Swindon sacked manager Danny Wilson and replaced him with Paul Hart in an attempt to secure their League One future. Grella had started five of the seven games Hart has been in charge of.

On his Twitter, Grella said:

“I’ve decided to come back to leeds because under the new management I wasn’t getting games. My reason for joining Swindon was to help them…

and to also get games in…I want to say thanks to the Swindon fans for everything and know that I have a great respect for the club and…

all the people involved, I hope they stay up because they have a great group of lads and the club deserves to be up higher”

Paul Hart has hit back, claiming Swindon are “better off without” Grella, also saying “It’s amazing. It’s beyond me. We don’t need people like that.”

Having scored one goal in his seven appearances for Swindon and feeling his opportunities were limited there, it begs the question what he gains from returning to Leeds when he is clearly not a part of Simon Grayson’s plans for the rest of this season. Grella had allegedly refused to move to League Two Bradford City and had a move to Motherwell cancelled because he had already played for both Leeds and Carlisle earlier in the season.

It seems, unless he can find yet another loan move, he will spend the rest of the season in the Leeds reserves (providing he can make the team). I don’t mean to come across as if I’m not in full support of one of our players but you can’t help but think he hasn’t thought this through properly. His first team opportunities are going to be far more limited at Elland Road than they were at Swindon and it’s difficult to see what he will achieve by returning to Leeds at this stage in the season.

Though fighting a relegation battle in League One isn’t the most attractive proposal, surely it’s better for a young professional footballer to be doing that than playing in a Mickey Mouse reserve league. He had the opportunity to put in some real hard graft and try to dig Swindon out of the hole they find themselves in and become, like Davide Somma at Lincoln City last season, somewhat of a club hero. If it was simply a matter of a personality clash with Paul Hart or other Swindon staff, then his desire to leave could be understandable – if not, from certain perspectives, entirely acceptable.

Maybe he just didn’t like Swindon. Maybe he’ll force his way into the first team and be the catalyst for success in our promotion push though, with Somma and McCormack sitting restlessly on the bench, that seems somewhat doubtful.

It was a poor weekend for Leeds but many of our loanees fared better.

Adam Clayton had the biggest impact of all our players – he came on in the 39^th minute for MK Dons and bagged a 94^th minute winner as they beat Carlisle 3-2. He diverted a low cross into the back of the net from a few yards. Given the nature of his goal, he can be forgiven for breaking his promise not to celebrate against his former club.

One of the biggest shock results of the weekend was Scunthorpe’s 4-1 trouncing of top of the table QPR. Ramon Nunez played in the middle of the park and though he didn’t get on the score sheet he did his bit to help Scunthorpe to a fantastic win after going a goal down early on.

Aidy White and Fede Bessone faced off in the only goalless draw in the Football League on Saturday as Charlton travelled up to Boundary Park. Neither player had an outstanding game.

Meanwhile in League Two, Tom Lees played ninety minutes. He was unable to help Bury keep another clean sheet but ended up on the winning side as they beat Northampton 4-2.

Will Hatfield again wasn’t involved for York City and in a move that went under the radar, Mike Grella has returned to Leeds after his loan spell at Swindon Town.

Ramon Nunez made his debut for Scunthorpe after a 16000 mile round trip with Honduras over the international break. He started reasonably brightly and looked dangerous running at the Norwich defence, firing narrowly over from long range early on. That was as exciting as it got for Nunez and Scunthorpe fans though as he was substituted just after half an hour as Scunthorpe went 2-0 down and were reduced to ten men. The day got worse for Nunez and his new club as they were eventually turned over 6-0.

Fede Bessone played ninety minutes for Charlton in their 3-1 win over London rivals Leyton Orient. He put in an average shift and was unspectacular as fans continue to question his ability.

Oldham got a much needed win with Aidy White in the side. The Leeds winger played eighty minutes and could have got on the score-sheet in the first half but for a good block. Adam Clayton recently joined MK Dons on loan after having limited opportunities at Elland Road. The young midfielder came on for the last half an hour with his side winning 2-0 at Southampton. However, in the time he was on Southampton scored three goals to win the game. This reflects badly on Clayton but the goals weren’t really his fault though the substitution did seem to be misjudged, inviting Southampton to attack.

Striker Mike Grella came on for the last ten minutes or so for Swindon but the game was already tied at 1-1 and it finished that way.

In League Two, Tom Lees played the full ninety, despite Bury losing their manager to Scunthorpe in the week. He helped his side to another clean sheet as they picked up a 3-0 win.

Will Hatfield was not involved for York City this weekend.

The games are coming thick and fast now as we head towards the end of the season and while the rest of the country was focussed on the international break, League One and Two fixtures went ahead and a few Leeds loanees were in action.

Adam Clayton was named on the bench for MK Dons but didn’t get chance to play his first game for them. Will Hatfield also didn’t feature for his loan club, York City.

Aidy White was an unused sub for Oldham last week and came on as a 68^th minute sub in Tuesday night’s goalless draw with Tranmere.

Fede Bessone made his first appearance back from injury in Charlton’s midweek draw with Southampton and it seems he had a solid game, keeping the highly rated Oxlade-Chamberlain quiet all game. A number of Charlton fans gave him their man of the match. The message boards had very complimentary things to say about him with some hoping he’ll be signed up by the Addicks in the summer.

He played another 90 minutes before getting substituted late in stoppage time at the weekend. However he seemed unable to recapture his midweek form and there were questions surrounding his distribution and defensive play. One particular comment on a Charlton message board may be familiar to Leeds fans: “Bassone [sic] looked awful – long time since I have seen a player as bad as him.”

Tom Lees but in a decent performance for Bury once again, playing a full 90 minutes and helping the League Two side to a clean sheet in a goalless draw away from home.

Mike Grella played 84 minutes for Swindon as they went down to League One leaders, Brighton (a game in which ex-White David Prutton scored a belter). Grella was unable to get on the scoresheet but did rattle the bar with a snapshot from inside the area.

The disappointing weekend extended to our loanees with not one tasting victory. As a result there isn’t too much to report.

Mike Grella played 62 minutes for Swindon in their goalless draw against Huddersfield. It wasn’t as eventful an afternoon as last week for the young American but it seems as if Swindon fans were pretty annoyed at him being dragged off just after the hour mark.

Aidy White also started but lasted not much longer than an hour as Oldham went down 1-0 to League One leaders Brighton. Opinion seems to be that White isn’t imposing himself enough in games.

Tom Lees played ninety minutes but couldn’t stop Bury slumping to 3-2 defeat to Cheltenham.

Fede Bessone remains injured and Will Hatfield was an unused sub for York City.

Mike Grella played 90 minutes in midweek but couldn’t prevent Swindon losing 1-0. On Saturday however he fared better, grabbing his first goal for Swindon with a fantastic lobbed goal. He could have had another but saw his brilliant curling effort palmed away by the ‘keeper. He was also playing his part in creating chances, slipping ex-White David Prutton through on goal with a precise through ball only for Prutton to come out second best to the ‘keeper. Grella later picked up a yellow card and was substituted in the 79^th minute (to the bemusement of many Swindon fans) only to see his goal cancelled out by a late Dagenham and Redbridge equaliser. There seems to have been a mostly positive response to Grella by Swindon fans with many naming him as the stand out player in their recent games.

Aidy White has worked his way back into the starting eleven as Oldham’s slump continues. He played 76 minutes in midweek and 88 minutes on Saturday as they went down to Sheffield Wednesday and Leyton Orient.

Tom Lees continues to impress in League Two, playing ninety minutes and helping Bury to a fourth successive clean sheet. The youngster was popping up at both ends, first clearing well of his own goal line and then missing a golden opportunity at the other end as inexplicably shot wide from close range when he should have scored.

Will Hatfield came off the bench in the 64^th minute for York City in their 1-0 win over Eastbourne Borough. Fede Bessone remains injured and missed both Charlton’s midweek and weekend games.

It was another quiet weekend for most of the Leeds loanees. Fede Bessone is still suffering with a hamstring injury so again didn’t feature for Charlton as they were held to a draw by Tranmere thanks to an Enoch Showunmi goal. Aidy White was an unused sub for Oldham which seems worrying considering the bright start he made and the Latics recent poor run – not scoring in their last six games. Opinion amongst fans seems to be divided on his exclusion from the starting line-up. Youngster Will Hatfield was also an unused sub for York City, despite recently extending his loan deal.

Mike Grella kept his starting place through the recent managerial change at Swindon and played 90 minutes in his home debut but was unable to get his first goal in their 0-0 draw with Walsall. Reports seem to suggest that Grella was predictably energetic and keen to impress but often took the selfish option rather than passing to team mates. Despite this, opinion from Swindon fans on Grella seems quite positive, the belief being that he has so far had to create his own chances due to a lack of support from midfield and that, after going close a few times today, he’ll surely find the net soon.

Tom Lees again played 90 minutes for Bury, helping the League Two side to another clean sheet in their 3-0 win.