{"id":79730,"date":"2026-02-04T16:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/?p=79730"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:31:06","slug":"west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/","title":{"rendered":"West Ham Loss Could Be Leeds’ Gain In Chase For Ligue 1 Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Ham’s decision not to sign central defender Arouna Sangante in the final week of the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo was eager to sign a new centre-back before Monday’s deadline and was offered the Senegalese international.<\/p>\n

However, he opted against bringing in the Le Havre player and instead gave the green light for the club to sign Axel Disasi.<\/p>\n

According to TeamTalk, Nuno wanted to sign a player with Premier League experience to help with their survival bid.<\/p>\n

Nuno’s side are six points adrift of safety and are 2\/5 third favourites in the Premier League relegation betting market.<\/a><\/p>\n

If West Ham are relegated, a clause in Nuno’s contract<\/a> means they can sack him without paying off the entirety of his three-year deal.<\/p>\n

Leeds Set To Profit In Arouna Sangante Chase<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The report adds that Nuno’s decision to turn down Sangante will play into the hands of Leeds, who are also keen admirers of his talents.<\/p>\n

Sangante, 23, has impressed in Ligue 1, and his quality and leadership skills have already made him captain of the club.<\/p>\n

Le Havre sit in 15th but have the joint-best defensive record outside of the top nine in the league.<\/p>\n

Sangante has been on the radar of numerous Premier League clubs, including Brighton and Brentford, while several clubs across Europe have also taken note of his potential.<\/p>\n

Any likelihood of Leeds signing the talent will hinge on whether they can secure their place in the Premier League this season before turning attentions towards building a squad that consolidates their top-flight status.<\/p>\n

Boss Daniel Farke’s side are six points clear of West Ham, but a 4-0 defeat at home to Arsenal in their last outing was a stark reminder of the gulf in class.<\/p>\n

Farke’s job will be safe until at least the summer, but the markets have already opened on the betting for the next Leeds manager.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Who Is Arouna Sangante?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sangante was born in Dakar but moved to France as a teenager, where he\u00a0developed at Paris-based clubs <\/span>Cosmos Saint-Denis<\/span> and <\/span>Red Star<\/span> before joining the Le Havre youth academy in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

His stock has continued to rise at the club and he played a key part of the squad that secured promotion to Ligue 1 after winning the Ligue 2 title in the 2022\/2023 season.<\/p>\n

He looks destined to leave the club this summer when his contract expires, and is likely to have numerous options available to him.<\/p>\n

Sangante almost joined Danish side FC Midtylland with the deal reaching\u00a0an advanced stage in mid-2025, but the transfer ultimately fell through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Ham’s decision not to sign central defender Arouna Sangante in the final week of the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.\u00a0 Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo was eager to sign a new centre-back before Monday’s deadline and was offered the Senegalese international. However, he opted against bringing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":456,"featured_media":79752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1321,781,146],"class_list":["post-79730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-football","tag-leeds-united","tag-west-ham"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportscasting UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Forrester\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Forrester\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Richard Forrester\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30\"},\"headline\":\"West Ham Loss Could Be Leeds’ Gain In Chase For Ligue 1 Defender\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Football\",\"Leeds United\",\"West Ham\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Football\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30\"},\"description\":\"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Arouna Sangate\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/news\\\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"West Ham Loss Could Be Leeds’ Gain In Chase For Ligue 1 Defender\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sportscasting UK\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30\",\"name\":\"Richard Forrester\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Richard Forrester\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportscasting.com\\\/uk\\\/author\\\/richardforrester\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate","description":"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate","og_description":"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/","og_site_name":"Sportscasting UK","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard Forrester","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Forrester","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Forrester","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30"},"headline":"West Ham Loss Could Be Leeds’ Gain In Chase For Ligue 1 Defender","datePublished":"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/"},"wordCount":452,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg","keywords":["Football","Leeds United","West Ham"],"articleSection":["Football"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/","name":"Leeds Boost After West Ham Decide Against Arouna Sangate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-04T16:31:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30"},"description":"West Ham's decision not to sign defender Arouna Sangante in the transfer window could open the door for a summer move to Leeds.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/fbl-fra-ligue1-strasbourg-le-havre-scaled-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Arouna Sangate"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/west-ham-loss-leeds-gain-defender\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"West Ham Loss Could Be Leeds’ Gain In Chase For Ligue 1 Defender"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/","name":"Sportscasting UK","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/665329325913811ea0d5a0ad07946a30","name":"Richard Forrester","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/avatar_user_456_1768214883-96x96.jpg","caption":"Richard Forrester"},"url":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/author\/richardforrester\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79730"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79757,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730\/revisions\/79757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}