Finley Gorman wanted by Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham as Leeds United agree record transfer with Manchester City – Phil Hay
Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham were all interested in Finley Gorman before the Leeds United teenager became the subject of a record-breaking deal with Manchester City, according to The Athletic.
The outlet’s Phil Hay and Sam Lee report on their website on 15 November that the 15-year-old was a target for a selection of Premier League giants before a trip to the treble-winners sold him on a move there.
With City prepared to pay a seven-figure fee for the teenager they view as a “generational talent”, which could exceed £5million if he reaches his potential, they were able to avoid the threat of losing out to any of their top flight rivals who were reportedly “not quite so set on investing so much money” in the attacking midfielder.
The Whites are not pleased to have been powerless to prevent Gorman’s exit due to his age, with his head turned in Manchester despite attempts to keep him in West Yorkshire.
In-demand
With so many of the top teams in England sniffing around the teenager it looks like it was probably inevitable that somebody stumped up sooner or later to take him out of Leeds United’s grasp.
Since he is so far from 17th birthday still the door was wide open for any club that could convince him and it is the treble-winners that have ultimately won.
Given Chelsea appear to see spending as no object since their takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake, especially when it comes to young talent, it is perhaps a surprise that they weren’t the ones to agree to a major fee.
It clearly comes as a blow to Leeds that such a highly-rated youngster has turned them down and there was nothing they could do about it, but fans might prefer him to head to the Etihad campus rather than Cobham.
Archie Gray may be the poster boy for academy impact on the first-team now that he has established himself as a Daniel Farke favourite, but otherwise there are arguably too few obvious success stories in recent seasons.
Whether a clearer pathway to first-team football would have been enough to convince Gorman to stay in the face of advances from the nominal best team in the world is hard to say, and it looks like there would have been no shortage of options open to him before turning professional either way.
In other Leeds United news, in terms of incoming business the 49ers have now been tipped to “flex their muscles in the transfer market” amid a new FFP forecast.