‘Sources close to De Paul’ – Phil Hay delivers key update on potential Leeds transfer
It looks like it might be time for Leeds United fans to finally give up on signing Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul.
Athletic journalist Phil Hay has said that “sources close to De Paul” think any future bid from Leeds is now unlikely.
After a protracted summer transfer saga, hope was rekindled last week when De Paul tweeted to say “New Year, New Challenges” as the January transfer window opened.
However, that hope was killed for this window when Udinese’s sporting director Pierpaolo Marino said that De Paul wouldn’t be sold until the summer if at all. And then only for the valuation that Udinese have for him.
“The Pozzo family never sell Udinese top players in January, so I can only confirm that if he does leave, if he receives the right offers, then it’ll be next summer,” Marino said.
Udinese’s valuation stopped the transfer happening in the summer and Leeds moved onto other targets.
Now, the Athletic has said that any future deal is unlikely.
“Sources close to De Paul believe that the brief nature of Leeds’ initial dabble makes a future bid for him unlikely,” Hay wrote in a transfer round-up.
“Officials at Elland Road consistently talk down the prospect of them and Udinese doing a deal.”
De Paul deal not happening
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
It does seem odd that Leeds didn’t value De Paul as highly as Udinese. His performances in Serie A have consistently put him in the elite bracket of players.
WhoScored’s ratings led to him being included in the Team of the Year.
He’s won two man-of-the-match awards from WhoScored this season and got a massive and rare 9.21 rating in the 1-0 win against Genoa. The nearest player to him was given a 7.8.
There’s always the possibility that Leeds will try again in the summer but it seems that De Paul has given up hope, after making it clear he wanted to play under Bielsa in the summer.
Leeds do have a lot of attacking options and it could be that Bielsa will decide to focus on the defensive midfield position, along with the defence in the summer.
For now, at least, the flirting with De Paul has to stop.
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