MOT View: Berardi response to Leeds future question could be biggest hint yet on potential exit
Leeds United defender Gaetano Berardi might have dropped the biggest clue yet over whether he will stay at Elland Road this summer.
The Swiss defender is out of contract in June, and while The Athletic journalist Phil Hay has claimed that he is expected to stick around until the end of the season, there has been no indication of what his future holds beyond that.
The 31-year-old is currently the Whites’ longest serving player, having joined the club from Sampdoria in 2014.
But while he has not issued an explicit answer on where he will be playing his football next term, Berardi has hinted that he wants to end his time in Yorkshire on a high.
Speaking in a Q&A shared to Leeds’ official Twitter account, he said: “I would like to finish with a really good, really nice memory.
“I just want to finish as best as possible, and I think there is the biggest thing still left to do before I think about my future”.
Evidently, and somewhat understandably, Berardi does not want to get drawn into giving a concrete answer on whether or not he will be leaving the club this summer.
Given the unprecedented circumstances we found ourselves and the disruption that it has caused throughout the professional game, there’s no saying that he even knows for definite himself.
But if the player wants to go out in a blaze of glory, as he is suggesting here, what could be better than helping the Whites to secure promotion before riding off into the sunset?
Carrying on into next season would risk undoing that good work, even if that meant something as innocuous as fizzling out with a mid-table finish in the Premier League.
If Berardi is to be taken at his word, then it feels as if this summer could be the perfect time for him to bow out.
In other Leeds United news, Exclusive: Paul Robinson makes big claim about future of Elland Road if Leeds promoted.