Phil Hay: Leeds United had the budget to sign Harry Winks or Donny van de Beek
Phil Hay has shared that Leeds United had the budget to sign either Harry Winks or Donny van de Beek in January.
The Athletic journalist has reported that intermediaries contacted the Whites over the Spurs and Manchester United players, but were turned down in the end.
Leeds are said to have offered them to Marcelo Bielsa, but he decided that neither were a good fit for his side in the end.
Writing in his latest column for The Athletic, Hay shared what he had heard from Elland Road regarding the potential deals.
“At one stage of the January window, intermediaries contacted Leeds about potential loan deals for Tottenham’s England international Harry Winks and fellow midfielder Donny van de Beek of Manchester United,” he said.
“Winks was never likely to suit because the club had said no to him in last summer’s window but the budget was there for it and both possibilities were put to Bielsa.
“The verdict they reached was that neither player was an ideal fit.”
Really?
This is strange in every sense of the word.
Bielsa is stubborn, we know that, but surely he knew that he needed reinforcements in the window just gone?
In the end, we brought in nothing to help the senior side, and injuries continue to ravage our options every single week at Elland Road.
Our midfield in the game against Newcastle consisted of Robin Koch, Mateusz Klich and Rodrigo, and look what happened there.
Adam Forshaw and Kalvin Phillips being out immediately brings major problems, so why not utilise these offers and go for Van de Beek or Winks?
Both have considerable quality and can run for days, but something must not have been right for Bielsa to take that plunge.
In other Leeds United news, an American journalist shares what sources told him about Brenden Aaronson on deadline day