MOT View: Huge Leeds transfer claim shows scope of Radrizzani ambition
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani comes in for a lot of stick when things aren’t going right on the pitch.
And in the Championship that’s a regular occurrence.
However, there’s no doubting his ambition and if one huge transfer had come off in January, fans would be singing a different song.
Talking to Football Insider, former Leeds star Michael Brown shared what he’d been told about the push to bring Southampton striker Che Adams to Elland Road.
He claimed that Leeds had agreed a huge club-record £19m loan-to-buy deal for Adams, only for the rug to be pulled on them by Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.
“Che Adams was agreed, I think at £17million,” Brown said, “then Southampton said, ‘can you increase that bid’?
“Adams wanted to go [to Leeds], then the price went up £2million more. Leeds met that, it was agreed [at £19m], and then the Southampton manager stepped in and said, ‘Do you know what? I want to keep him’.”
Leeds’ record transfer is still the £18m they paid for Rio Ferdinand in 2000.
Leeds kept pushing for Adams until quite late on in the January window and this would explain that.
Leeds already have an obligation to buy Helder Costa for £15m in the summer and a £5m obligation for Illan Meslier if they get promoted. There’s also an option to buy Jack Harrison for £8m.
In the end, Leeds signed Jean-Kevin Augustin but he hasn’t been able to make an instant impact – as Che Adams probably would have done.
However, he comes with an obligation rumoured to be around the £17.5m mark.
You can accuse Radrizzani of a lot of things but investing in the team isn’t one of them.
In other Leeds United news, Leeds ace ‘can’t believe’ what has happened to him after being bombed out on loan