By David Woods

6th Feb, 2020 | 7:20am

Leeds chief explains why club didn't sign Jarrod Bowen in January despite reported £15m bid

Leeds United were linked with a sensational move for Hull winger Jarrod Bowen in the January window, with the Sun claiming they were readying a £15m bid for the prolific forward.

However, it was never actually on the cards – just one of the more sensational transfer stories that turned out to be not based in reality.

Bowen eventually moved to West Ham on deadline day for a fee of £19m.

He’s a player that Leeds fans wanted to see at Elland Road but Leeds chief Angus Kinnear explained why the club couldn’t sign Bowen, despite being interested in the player.

Talking to BBC Radio Leeds (Wednesday, 6pm), Kinnear said the club was right on the upper limits of profit and sustainability and weren’t prepared to break them.

He added that there was no way any Championship club could have signed Bowen without parachute payments or breaching P&S.

“When the accounts come out we’re going to be right at the upper limit of the profit and sustainability threshold,” Kinnear said, “and we’re not going to breach it like other clubs have.

“That’s not the way we want to operate, we’re working within the limits.

“We don’t agree with the rules and we don’t think they help drive sustainability, in fact, we think they lead to some creative accounting counter to the healthy running of football clubs, and there are a number of clubs that are campaigning against it.

“That’s why in the last transfer window we had to cut our cloth and the thought of any Championship club paying £25m for a player like Jarrod Bowen… that just isn’t possible within P&S rules unless they have a significant parachute payment.”

Kinnear is better when he’s talking numbers – he should leave the relationship with the fans well alone.

And these are fascinating comments that not only explain why Leeds didn’t go in for Bowen, but give a big reveal into the complications of working within profit and sustainability levels.

Fans are always begging for new signings and plenty wanted to know where the money had gone at Leeds after the squad had been trimmed.

The reality is, with increased wages, that Leeds can either play by the rules and scrape by on loan deals, or break the rules and put the future of the club at jeopardy.

Everyone wants marquee signings but this shows Leeds are doing the right thing by the club and given that, the January window has to be seen as a massive success.

In other Leeds United news, ‘Hand a transfer request in; Disgraceful’: Many Leeds fans fume at comments from senior club man