By Sam Stone

27th Mar, 2023 | 7:45pm

£13.7m Willy Gnonto price tag shared ahead of Leeds United transfer

FC Zurich’s valuation of Willy Gnonto saw a number of Serie A clubs turn down the chance to sign the 19-year-old before he secured his move to Leeds United, according to Calciomercato.

The Whites landed the Italian international in the summer for a reported fee of £3.8million (Daily Mail, 2 September).

However, Calciomercato now claims (27 March) that Gnonto was subject to interest from Sassuolo, Roma and Fiorentina. It’s believed the £13.7million price tag deterred the Italian clubs from making a move.

Bargain

Gnonto, without a doubt, has proven to be one of the signings of the season. He will undoubtedly go on to make the club a significant amount of money in the future and Victor Orta deserves plenty of praise for identifying the youngster in the first place.

Quite why he was playing his club football in Switzerland is certainly up for debate.

He’s destined to be playing at the highest level and the challenge for Leeds will be to hang onto him for as long as they possibly can. He’s contracted to the club until 2027 which means the Whites are in an extremely strong position when it comes to any potential sale.

There’s been talk of a return to Italy, but the young attacker should be aiming higher than his home country. There are some top-class sides such as Napoli, but, on the whole, the top end of the Premier League or La Liga is far more competitive and where the best players in the world tend to congregate.

In other Leeds news, the club may avoid making a big transfer decision after a big development in Europe.

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