Andrea Radrizzani wants to raid Leeds United for Leo Hjelde transfer
Andrea Radrizzani wants to raid Leeds United for his new club Sampdoria by signing defender Leo Hjelde, according to Calciomercato (3 July).
Hjelde spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Championship club Rotherham and shone, and is now expected to be part of the first-team squad at Elland Road for the new campaign.
But Radrizzani is now looking to strengthen his new club by poaching some former talents, although it would take “important economic compensation” to get a deal done.
“At Sampdoria there has been a lot of talk about players from foreign leagues also because Radrizzani is reportedly evaluating some young players owned by Leeds,” they wrote.
“One, for example, is Norwegian left-back Leo Hjelde. The winger, who will turn 20 in August, has already made his debut in the Premier League while in January he moved to English Serie B on loan at Rotherham.
“However, there is no shortage of competition, and Leeds would like to obtain an important economic compensation.”
No deal
Whether Hjelde is part of the new manager’s plans or not for the new season, there is absolutely no way we should be helping Radrizzani out this summer.
As it stands our own business has been held up because of the deal with the 49ers still needing ratification, and Radrizzani has done nothing to earn respect from fans at Leeds since we were relegated to the Championship.
Hjelde has a bright future at the club and left-back is a position where there is plenty of scope for progression with Junior Firpo, Pascal Struijk and Max Wober likely to be on their way out.
At just 20-years-old his ceiling is high and there is only room for progression for him at this stage, so selling him would be counter-productive to the period we are in right now as a squad.
Radrizzani needs to pay big money or get gone when it comes to signing our players, because we shouldn’t be cutting our own nose off to spite our face while trying to help him after the mess he has left us in.
In other Leeds news, another Premier League side have entered the race for one exit-bound star.