MOT View: If Alioski has rejected new contract, Bielsa should look to the future
Gjanni Alioski is reportedly close to signing for Galatasaray after rejecting a new Leeds United contract.
If this is true, there’s a big proportion of Leeds fans who would prefer him not to play for the club again.
Reports linking Alioski to Galatasaray first surfaced in January but were dismissed with the YEP reporting that the player was happy at Leeds and looking to sign a new deal.
However, nothing has happened with this and the story is back again.
The latest comes from Milliyet and claims that a deal has nearly been done between Alioski and the Turkish club.
Leeds fans feel very strongly about this club.
Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus were stabbed to death by Galatasaray fans in Istanbul in 2000.
20 years later, the brother of Loftus said it felt like it happened “yesterday”. [BBC]
The report has sparked a debate among fans online with some saying that Alioski isn’t a local Leeds lad, wasn’t at the club when the tragedy happened (like Harry Kewell) and doesn’t owe the club anything.
That’s not strictly true.
Like many other players at Leeds, Alioski has been plucked from relative worldwide obscurity in the Championship, to a mid-table Premier League side.
Because of this, he’s going to be getting much more lucrative offers and we doubt that Galatasaray is the only team interested in him.
He knows the history between the two clubs and he knows what it would mean to his reputation at Leeds.
If he still decides that Galatasaray is the club for him, that’s his prerogative, but we would prefer him to go anywhere else.
However, more importantly, if he has rejected a new contract and made his decision, we don’t think he should play for the club again anyway, irrespective of where he’s going – we only want players who want to play for us.
There are other players who can play the left-back role – Leif Davis for one. We’d prefer to see him given a proper chance to prove himself between now and the end of the season.
The more information Bielsa has about the players at his disposal before the summer window, the better.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay delivers Leeds update as report claims Alioski ‘very close’ to joining Galatasaray