Bournemouth ‘blew Leeds United out of the water’ for Max Aarons deal, wanted to unveil him at Elland Road
Leeds United wanted to unveil Max Aarons as a new signing at Elland Road before the clash with Shrewsbury before Bournemouth blew them out of the water and hijacked the deal, according to The Athletic.
Writing on their official website (14 August), journalist Richard Amofa reports that the right-back was undergoing a medical with the Whites ahead of being unveiled before the EFL Cup clash last week.
But Bournemouth agreed a deal with Norwich too and then made the player an offer on personal terms that Leeds simply couldn’t match, leading to the 23-year-old heading to the south coast and making his debut in the Premier League clash with West Ham on Saturday (12 August).
“On Tuesday, Max Aarons was all but a Leeds United player. Southampton were keen on him too but he agreed terms with the Yorkshire club and a fee had been finalised with Norwich City,” they wrote.
“He had travelled up to Leeds and, on Wednesday, had started his medical, according to sources.
“Bournemouth’s pursuit of the right-back seemed to be over. Leeds were preparing promotional material to announce the deal and had hoped to parade Aarons on the Elland Road pitch ahead of their Carabao Cup game against Shrewsbury Town that evening.
“But Bournemouth are more bullish these days and, unwilling to admit defeat, embarked on 11th-hour negotiations with Norwich and Aarons’ representatives.
“Bournemouth blew Leeds out of the water with a better deal and the chance to play Premier League football again. There were brief conversations about whether Leeds could up their offer and there were also concerns from Aarons’ family about his late change of heart, but ultimately Leeds were not going to be able to match Bournemouth’s wage offer and Aarons travelled down to the south coast at around 4pm that afternoon.”
Damn
It just goes to show you that until the contract has got the ink drying on it from the player’s signature, anything can happen.
The 49ers have done the majority of their transfer business quietly so far, with limited talk about the arrival of Ethan Ampadu or Joe Rodon before deals were essentially done and they did similar with Aarons.
But he was clearly more wanted than others and in the end the news got out too quickly and rival clubs were able to take advantage of that to get a deal over the line.
Having a plan for his unveiling just shows how far along the deal was, and the fact we couldn’t match his personal terms despite our relatively strong financial situation tells you just how big their offer must have been.
The 49ers weren’t willing to get drawn into a bidding war for him and at the end of the day it’s probably the right decision, but hopefully they learn from this and get things signed off before briefs start emerging.
In other Leeds news, club stance emerges as FIFA rule could see star’s exit halted.