James Murray

Wed 19 July 2023 10:10, UK

The Athletic’s journalist Adam Crafton has called out former Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani over a “curious” claim he made about Elland Road.

A report by The Athletic on 1 June claimed the Italian offered to use the club’s stadium as security for a £26million bank loan that his company Aser intended to use to complete a takeover of Sampdoria.

It added that under a heads-of-terms agreement co-signed by the businessman, Elland Road would act as collateral as part of a deal by Aser and its bidding partner Gestio Capital to borrow money to complete their buy-out of the Seria A club.

But in an interview with Sky Sports on 18 July about his time in West Yorkshire, he denied the claims made in The Athletic’s report.

“I was involved in trying to find a solution to try to save Sampdoria from bankruptcy – which we did, luckily,” said Radrizzani.

“In conversations with the bank, I offered my own group corporate guarantee as collateral for some financing and they asked about the stadium.

“In the end, we found a completely different solution but it was only part of the conversation. There’s been a lot of speculation around this. I understand the fans’ feelings but nothing happened in this way.”

Responding to Radrizzani’s claims that it wasn’t his intention to use Elland Road as security on a loan, Crafton tweeted on 18 July that it was a “curious way to explain signing a heads of terms agreement in which it was proposed”.

Let it go

There is no doubt that Radrizzani did a number of positive things during his first few years at Leeds after helping the club secure its long-awaited return to the Premier League.

But his actions during the latter stages of his time with the Whites, including his bid to purchase Sampdoria and the reports surrounding how he financed it, have tarnished the majority of that good work.

The Athletic report into his alleged dealings is pretty damning and it looks like he only really did the Sky Sports interview to try and save face, rather than really set the record straight.

It’s time now for Radrizzani to move on and leave the club behind him, as he aims to try and get Sampdoria back on track and Leeds look forward to what they hope will be a brighter future.

The news of the takeover appears to have given everyone associated with the Whites a boost and they will be looking to build on that positivity as they attempt to bounce straight back up to the Premier League.

In other Leeds United news, one star expected to leave could be offered a new contract at Elland Road.