The Lucas Perri Torino transfer has moved to the brink of completion, with Italian outlet Football Italia listing the Brazilian goalkeeper among the window’s done deals on Thursday — and Leeds United already lining up his replacement, with Michael Zetterer reported to be booked in for a medical.
It is the tidiest possible resolution to a saga that has rumbled through the whole of August, and it leaves Daniel Farke’s goalkeeping department looking very different to the one that started the summer. Within a matter of weeks the Whites have signed a £45m No.1, watched the previous generation of Elland Road keepers scatter across Europe, and are now on the verge of replacing their deputy with days of the window left to run.
Lucas Perri Torino transfer: how the deal got here
The Torino interest was never a secret. Reports of a move had been circulating for the best part of a fortnight, and the noise reached the point where Farke was asked about it directly ahead of the EFL Cup tie at Nottingham Forest. His answer, at that stage, was unambiguous: Perri was his No.2, and he spoke about the Brazilian as a Leeds player.
That position has shifted quickly. On Thursday afternoon, Football Italia’s done-deals round-up had Torino “finally” securing Perri from Leeds, framing it as a piece of business the Serie A club had been chasing for some time. A little over an hour later, MOT Leeds News published a timeline for the switch, with the keeper described as closing in on the move rather than over the line.
That gap between “done” and “closing in” is worth flagging rather than papering over. No confirmation has come from either club at the time of writing, and until Leeds or Torino announce it, this remains a strongly reported deal rather than a completed one. What is beyond dispute is the direction of travel — and the fact that Leeds have spent the same 24 hours acting like a club that expects to be a goalkeeper light.
Michael Zetterer medical: the replacement is already moving
Leeds were reported to have agreed a deal for Michael Zetterer earlier this week, and on Thursday evening Bundesliga outlet Bulinews reported the keeper is set to undergo a medical ahead of the move. Two strands of the same plan, in other words, landing within hours of one another: one keeper out, one keeper in, with the deadline closing fast.
The sequencing tells you how the recruitment department has been working all summer. Leeds have consistently lined up the replacement before sanctioning the exit — the same pattern that saw Nico Elvedi’s £8.5m arrival from Borussia Mönchengladbach dovetail with Sebastiaan Bornauw’s loan departure to Hamburg. It is unglamorous, and it is exactly what a newly re-established Premier League club needs to do in its second season back.
Why Leeds are so relaxed about it
The short answer is James Trafford. The £45m signing from Manchester City took the No.1 shirt in the summer squad-number reshuffle and has justified it immediately, keeping a clean sheet on his league debut in the 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend, then watching his side repeat the trick with a 2-0 EFL Cup victory at the City Ground three days later. Two away trips, two clean sheets, two wins, and a first choice the club has committed serious money to.
That changes what a No.2 is for. A deputy behind an established, fit, in-form goalkeeper is an insurance policy rather than a competitor, and it is entirely reasonable for an experienced keeper to want weekly football elsewhere rather than sit and wait. Torino, with a Serie A season to get through, can offer exactly that.
There is a squad-building argument here too. A back-up goalkeeper is one of the few positions where a Premier League club can carry a lower wage without weakening the first XI, and freeing up the money attached to a keeper who is not going to play is precisely the kind of housekeeping that funds business elsewhere on the pitch. With Farke pushing for further additions before the deadline, every pound recouped in the final week matters.
It also means Leeds can afford to be relatively unsentimental about the churn. Illan Meslier left Elland Road this summer after a long spell as the club’s first choice, and Karl Darlow departed on a free transfer to Manchester United. Add Perri and that is effectively a complete rebuild of the goalkeeping unit inside one window — a bold thing to do, and one only really available to a club that is genuinely convinced by the keeper it has just spent £45m on.
Matthieu Epolo and the shape of the shortlist
Zetterer may not be the only name in the file. Get French Football News reported exclusively on Thursday that Leeds are considering a move for Matthieu Epolo, with Marseille said to remain in contention for the same player. A separate report put a price on the deal. Both should be treated as what they are — live links rather than agreements — but the fact that Leeds are attached to more than one goalkeeper in the closing week of the window suggests a department that wants competition on its list, not just a body to fill a squad slot.
For supporters, the sensible read is that Zetterer is the advanced option and Epolo the sort of profile a club builds a shortlist around. Whether both, one or neither arrives will be decided in a matter of days.
What happens if the replacement stalls
The one genuine risk in all this is timing. If Perri’s exit is signed off and the incoming deal drags past the deadline, Leeds would be left going into a long Premier League season — plus a Carabao Cup run that has already produced a third-round tie — with a thinner goalkeeping group than Farke would like. That is the scenario clubs dread, and it is why the Zetterer medical landing on the same day as the Perri reports is significant rather than coincidental.
Leeds have shown all summer that they understand the sequencing. Elvedi was through the door before Bornauw went out on loan; Trafford was signed early rather than left to the final scramble. The expectation, on the evidence of the last three months, is that the club will not sanction the exit until the arrival is secure. Supporters who lived through leaner windows will still want to see it confirmed in black and white.
The bigger picture: less than a week to go
The goalkeeping situation is one thread in a busy final week. Leeds have already brought in Harry Wilson on a free from Fulham, Tarik Muharemović for £34m from Sassuolo, Elvedi from Mönchengladbach and Ditmir Hodja from Rabotnicki, alongside Trafford. They have also tied down Jayden Bogle, Joe Rodon and Brenden Aaronson to new contracts.
Farke, though, has been open about wanting more. The Yorkshire Evening Post reported his “have to improve” message to the club’s decision-makers with less than a week of the window remaining, and the paper’s daily transfer round-up has Leeds still working on attacking additions, with Igor Paixao and Mykhailo Mudryk both in the conversation.
All of which arrives in the same week Elland Road hosts its first Premier League fixture of the season, with Brentford the visitors on Sunday and the Whites sitting ninth after that opening-day win at Forest. Perri’s exit will barely register in the matchday atmosphere — but the speed with which Leeds have moved to replace him says plenty about a club that has learned, the hard way, what happens when you leave a squad thin in August.
Follow every twist of deadline week in our Leeds United transfer coverage.
