Bielsa will do anything to sign one player for Leeds, player-plus-£27.5m deal possible – report
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa will do “anything” to sign Rodrigo De Paul from Udinese before the transfer window closes, according to TuttoUdinese journalist Stefano Pontoni.
Speaking in an interview with CalcioStyle, the Italian reporter claimed that “De Paul will eventually leave Udine” and that Leeds and Juventus are battling for his signature.
It is understood that Udinese could agree a player-plus-cash deal for the 26-year-old Argentina international if the fee is £27.5million.
Pontoni said: “In my opinion, De Paul will eventually leave Udine. Juve may be the right destination, [Andrea] Pirlo esteems him, [Igor] Tudor who trained him in Udine recommended him, [Paulo] Dybala as well. €30million (£27.5m) plus a counterpart and the deal can be done. Always pay attention to Leeds, with Bielsa who would do anything to get him.”
We don’t know who Leeds would be able to offer to Udinese to bring down their asking price that much because according to Sky Sports Italy journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Serie A club want £36.8million (€40million) for the midfielder.
We assume that De Pau is going to be seen as a competitor for Pablo Hernandez in the Leeds squad but who do the Whites have that’s worth around £9million that is seen as dispensable?
As reported, Bielsa will do whatever it takes to sign De Paul so don’t rule out a shock exit from Elland Road if a player-plus-cash deal is eventually agreed but we really doubt that something like that will happen.
Player swap deals are quite rare because it takes a lot of different parties all being on the same wavelength and agreeing deals for them to be done.
Udinese sound as though they’ve been very difficult to deal with over De Paul so we cannot envisage them being easy to strike a player-plus-cash agreement with.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay says that, as it stands, this player is more likely to join the Whites than De Paul.