De Paul interview was almost ended over Leeds United transfer question
The Athletic’s James Horncastle has revealed he almost had an interview with Rodrigo De Paul shut down when he asked the Udinese midfielder about a potential move to Leeds United.
De Paul, 26, caused a huge stir last year when he took to Twitter to say he would be interested in joining the Whites amid strong speculation linking him with a move from Serie A to Elland Road.
Earlier this week, The Athletic published Horncastle’s interview with De Paul and included his brief answer to being asked about possibly linking up with Marcelo Bielsa in West Yorkshire.
Speaking to the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show, Horncastle has revealed that Udinese’s press officer wasn’t too pleased with the question but he saw in De Paul’s eyes that he knew the question was coming.
“I was shouted down, the Zoom call almost ended when I asked,” said The Athletic’s Serie A expert. “I left that right until the end of the interview with De Paul and I thought the press officer might have dozed off but no.
“The interesting thing was as soon as I mentioned it, I think he must’ve known that it was coming because he smiled.
“Yeah, he was very guarded, he did say, ‘look, I’m relaxed about it, there’s been lots and lots of talk’, which ultimately, he did kind of fuel by replying to one of your tweets over at the Square Ball.
“But this story runs and runs even though I think at the time Phil [Hay] and I looked into it and it didn’t ever seem to be really at an advanced stage.”
A telling smile?
We might be grasping at straws here but did De Paul’s face light up in that interview with Horncastle because he’s excited by the idea of playing for Leeds?
After seeing how well the Whites performed in the Premier League this season, it’s going to be difficult for a lot of players to not want to play for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Leeds are so exciting to watch with their full-on, energetic style of play that has been fine-tuned by Bielsa to the point the defence is no longer leaking goals as much as it was.
In the attack, Patrick Bamford, Raphinha, Jack Harrison and Rodrigo have been on fire as of late and in the midfield, Kalvin Phillips has been pulling the strings with Stuart Dallas doing pretty much everything there is to do on a football pitch.
Leeds are just missing that one central midfield that can elevate them from a good Premier League side into an amazing one.
De Paul is that central midfielder.
Let’s hope that the Whites make a big effort to land the Argentina international this summer.
We’d be happy with him no matter what price is paid.
In other Leeds United news, Charlie Austin claims this star has flown under the radar at Elland Road.