Leeds boss Thomas Christiansen demands £200m 'Neymar fee' to sign striker Chris Wood

Leeds United manager Thomas Christiansen has named his price for sought-after striker Chris Wood - insisting only a world-record bid in excess of the £198m paid by Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar would be considered for last season's top scorer. The Brazil international stunned world football by leaving Barcelona for the French capital after his release clause was activated by PSG.

Wood has been heavily linked with a move away from Elland Road since last season's failure to gain promotion back to the Premier League. Since a proposed move to Turkey fell through last month, Burnley have emerged as the leading contenders to sign the New Zealand international who scored 27 Championship goals last term.

Sean Dyche is desperate to replace Andre Gray, who joined Watford last week, but has seen an initial offer for Wood of £12m rebuffed by Leeds. The Daily Mail understand the Clarets will return with a new £20m offer this week but Christiansen remains adamant he is unwilling to consider any deal bar one which breaks the world transfer record again.

"If they (rival clubs) give me £200m like for Neymar, perhaps we can talk about that," he said, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. "I believe that in the programme he said he feels happy and that after I signed he said he would be happy staying here. Why shouldn't he?"

The Whites agonisingly missed out on a play-off place last season, finishing seventh as Garry Monk left the club for promotion favourites Middlesbrough. Wood, who opened his account for the new campaign in the win over Bolton Wanderers, was key to Leeds coming so close to the top six and Christiansen warns the club face missing out on promotion again if he is allowed to depart.

"It's very important," the Leeds boss added. "There's no doubt that he's (not) going to leave. "They (other clubs) can come in with many bids – of course he's a good striker – but I want him to stay and if we want to achieve something this season, you cannot sell your best players.

"I haven't talked to the club about it but I imagine that they are as ambitious as I am. If we want to go up we need to keep the players. We also need to sign good players. Last year he was very important, the top scorer, and this season he will be important. He needs to do it on the pitch with good performances and scoring goals. That's what we expect but he will, for sure, deliver."