Leeds United must throw huge money at Feyenoord to lure Arne Slot to Elland Road – Dutch journalist
Leeds United will need to throw a “huge” sum of money at Feyenoord if they wish to make Arne Slot their manager, Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan has told talkSPORT.
The Whites have hit several stumbling blocks in their pursuit of Jesse Marsch’s successor, with Carlos Corberan and Andoni Iraola both rejecting proposals to take the reins at Elland Road. [Raul Granado, 8 February]
The Independent reported on Thursday (9 February) that Leeds had lodged an official proposal for Feyenoord manager Slot – who was now their number one target – but journalist Van der Kraan told talkSPORT no contact had been made between the two parties.
“In the last two hours [February 9, 2:41 pm] Feyenoord president Dennis te Kloese wanted to end all the speculation,” he said.
“He has said, ‘look Leeds United have not been in touch officially. Not unofficially. I’m very close to the people of Leeds, I know them well, and I can’t see anything happening, and if they do come, I won’t sell him.’
“So maybe Leeds will have to either throw a huge package of money to everybody at Feyenoord or they will have to start looking elsewhere.”
Number one candidate
After the failure to lure either Corberan or Iraola to West Yorkshire in the past days, Slot is now surely the number one candidate for the job.
Whether the Dutch coach would be willing to lead the Eredivisie leaders is a worry, as his stock has risen at quite some rate since taking the job with Feyenoord, and it could be a risky move to abandon this at this moment in time.
Although Van der Kraan has revealed no contact has been made by Leeds, it is now surely only a matter of time before the club ramps up its pursuit of the talented manager.
The draw against Manchester United put the brakes on a worrying slide down the Premier League table, but a managerless Leeds side won’t be able to keep this up for long.
With Sean Dyche getting a tune out of his Everton side and the likes of Nottingham Forest and West Ham returning to form in recent weeks, Leeds really need to get a new manager in place as soon as possible.
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