Leeds United move for Joseph Paintsil may be off after Genk ‘moved the goalposts’ after Southampton issue – Sky Sports
Leeds United are “considering withdrawing their offer” for Joseph Paintsil after Genk changed the terms of the deal, according to Dharmesh Sheth.
The Sky Sports journalist reported via Twitter Friday evening (25 August) that the Belgium club have “moved the goalposts” on the valuation after the Whites felt they had made a “good and fair offer”.
As such the Ghanian’s move may be off because his club had wanted to do a swap deal with Southampton for Paul Onuachu.
David Ornstein of The Athletic had reported earlier on Friday that a €10million [£8.58m] offer had been made with Paintsil, 25, telling Genk he wanted the move to Leeds.
The forward and Saints man Onuachu had both turned down the swap option.
Sheth himself had reported earlier in the day that the two clubs were already in “advanced negotiations” over a deal.
Too good to be true
Leeds United fans perhaps would have been feeling something must be amiss as a torrent of positive transfer news suddenly exploded in the past couple of days.
It has been a slog of a summer as the club overcame turmoil at every level to start the season with players leaving in all directions and a lack of new arrivals, so these negative developments are all too familiar.
Thankfully the headline deal for Joel Piroe is already wrapped up because the “confusion” that has since engulfed the proposed move for Nadiem Amiri, and now the sudden doubts on Paintsil, are threatening to derail the positivity heading into the weekend clash with Ipswich.
The end of the transfer window is always hard to predict, and at Leeds as much as anywhere, but this has been a unique summer for the club in many ways.
There is clearly a desire to spend to bring key signings in but it doesn’t look like it is going to go smoothly after all.
If neither Paintsil or Onuachu want the swap deal then that surely means such a prospect is dead in the water, so if Genk have responded by changing the terms on the Whites late then the Elland Road hierarchy are bound to be unimpressed.
It looks like this move isn’t 100% off as it stands, and surely landing a decent fee would be better than nothing for the Belgians, but the latest developments don’t look good.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have been in contact with a Premier League club again about signing another one of their players before the deadline.