BBC journalist: Leeds in early talks in move for big-name striker, could ‘match & improve’ wages
BBC 5 Live journalist Guillem Balague has said that Leeds United are in preliminary talks with Valencia over a move for their striker Rodrigo.
Interestingly, he also claimed that Leeds would be able to “match and improve” the salary that he’s on at the Spanish club.
Balague was talking on his YouTube channel in a fan Q&A on Saturday.
“Yesterday, I was talking about Rodrigo and his interest in going to Leeds, which is such a clever proposition,” Balague said.
“At Leeds, there are people taking decisions, the CEO, director of football, the chairman and Bielsa, who think out of the box. It was very brave from I imagine it was Victor Orta coming out with this idea, ‘How about Rodrigo?’
“I’m sure the wages Leeds could offer would match and improve the ones from Valencia.
“For Leeds it makes complete sense: [he is an] intelligent, hard worker, desiring the success of the collective. We’ll have to keep an eye on it. We’re still in the early stages in terms of club conversations.
“Leeds will have to reach an agreement with Rodrigo as well, which hasn’t happened yet. All I will say is Rodrigo likes the idea of Leeds and that’s fascinating.”
Exciting development
Balague doubles down on the fact that Rodrigo wants to move to Leeds in the video and makes it clearer than his tweet which said the striker “would be” happy to move Elland Road.
Leeds haven’t made contact with the player yet but they are in preliminary talks with Valencia.
Balague is a very well respected Spanish journalist and if he says that things are moving, then Leeds fans can trust that there is something in this.
It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
He’s on a reported £118,000-a-week at Valencia and we’re surprised to hear that Balague thinks Leeds could match or better these.
However, Valencia are a club in a cash crisis at the moment. They have to sell and they’ve earmarked Rodrigo for an exit this summer.
if they have to compromise to get him off their books then it could be that a deal could be reached.
Balague talks in very glowing terms about Rodrigo and he does sound exactly like the sort of player that Bielsa would want and the sort of attacker that could really thrive under the manager.
It’s an exciting prospect.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay: Leeds set to play seven times in next three weeks