While Leeds United will not be crowned champions this weekend – well, technically speaking anyway – the same can’t be said about runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Leeds United and Burnley were both promoted on Easter Monday. Sheffield United coming third in a three-horse race as they stumble over the final few hurdles.
The Whites and The Clarets went into the 45th matchday level on points, meanwhile, at the top of the Championship summit.
As such, the destination of the title will only be confirmed officially on the final day, regardless of the fact Leeds’ far superior goal difference essentially counts as an extra point advantage over Scott Parker’s defensively-brilliant but far-less-prolific outfit.
Liverpool, however, need not concern themselves with goal difference or – that classic end-of-season term we hear nowhere else – ‘permutations’.
As Arsenal bumble along in second, going through the motions and racking up draw after draw, Liverpool can be crowned Premier League champions for the second time if they beat Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Given that even Leicester and Ipswich have defeated Spurs this season, that should not be too daunting a task.
Especially given that Tottenham will be without Heung-Min Son. The ageing but still-occasionally brilliant South Korean who, with seven, has scored the fourth-most goals against Liverpool in the Premier League era.
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But how do Leeds fit into all this? Well, while many Tottenham fans seem willing to give Manor Solomon another chance, it remains to be seen what decision Ange Postecoglou takes with the Leeds loanee. Presuming – and it really is a presumption at this stage – that the cantankerous Aussie will still be at the helm come the opening of the summer transfer window.
Manor Solomon return to Tottenham feels unlikely as Leeds United eye permanent deal
Solomon, as a right-footed left-winger, feels like one of the players best suited to stepping into Son’s shoes long-term. Or he would do, if Tottenham had not already brought in Mathys Tel on a loan-to-buy deal from Bayern Munich.
A January addition which pushed Solomon even further down the pecking order at his parent club. And one which could leave the door ajar for Leeds to pick him up on a bargain deal. Tottenham reportedly value Solomon at just £15 million.
According to Give Me Sport, Tottenham are impressed with the way Tel has integrated into English football. While the teenage Frenchman has only two goals from eight top-flight appearances, the report adds that Spurs are already planning to negotiate a deal with Bayern at around £30 million.
This, coupled with Wilson Odobert’s eye-catching return from a long-term injury, only add credence to the idea that Solomon has played his last game in a Tottenham shirt.
Former Burnley starlet Odobert is another who could step into Son’s shoes long-term. Arguably he and Tel were Spurs brightest sparks – though that isn’t saying much really – during the 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest last time out.
Leeds, then, appear to be in a much stronger position to sign Manor Solomon permanently than they were a few months ago. And not only because their place in the Premier League – if not the Championship title – has now been sealed.
And while the man himself has been careful not to show his hand too early, Solomon does seem keen to stay at Leeds United. One suspects, after nine goals, 11 assists and numerous Man of the Match awards, that feeling may just be mutual.
“In my mind, I want to get back to the Premier League where I belong,” Solomon said a few months ago. “That is my goal. I understood that the best way to get back to myself and get back to the Premier League is to go to Leeds,” Solomon said.
“A club like Leeds, I think, must get into the Premier League. And that’s a very, very big goal for the team and for me. It’s something that I really, really want. I really, really want to get to the Premier League.
“It’s a big goal.”