Jose Mourinho makes £68.9m Leeds United transfer deal claim after new twist
Jose Mourinho has insisted that Pep Guardiola and Manchester City paid €80million [£68.9m] to sign Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United.
The outspoken manager admitted he wasn’t jealous but his reality is different at Roma after Guardiola admitted that the Yorkshire Pirlo will likely need to leave in January.
Sky Sports reported at the time that a £45million package had been agreed with Leeds, something that has been hugely inflated by Mourinho, it seems.
Fabrizio Romano shared what Mourinho said about the transfer on X, as he bemoaned the situation at his own club currently ahead of January.
“Not that I’m jealous, but Man City paid €80million [£68.9m] for Kalvin Phillips and now Pep has said it would be better for him to leave,” he said.
“So he’ll leave and they’ll get someone else. Our reality is very different. It’s not easy for us to sign one player.”
Inflated.
It seems as though Mourinho has got his figures mixed up here.
Many Leeds fans did feel as though their club had undersold their star man when he did leave, with this figure likely more to their taste after everything he did at Elland Road.
The harsh reality of the decision was that Phillips had been suffering from far too many injuries in his last year at the club, with surgeries and lack of minutes under his belt.
Leeds managed to stay in the Premier League the season before, and it looked as though they needed to sell him to stay in line with regulations, much to the annoyance of everyone.
The Whites did go on to get relegated the season after so that may have been the final summer to get that sort of money for him, something which hasn’t really worked out.
Rumours have even started to float that he could return to West Yorkshire should Leeds earn promotion this season, something which looks way off right now.
This is certainly one to watch though, we always keep an eye out for one of our own.
In other Leeds United news, the club face a “brutal truth” in the upcoming transfer window according to a Sky Sports pundit.