Journalist: Leeds United ‘willing to offload’ Wilfried Gnonto despite ‘serious’ contract talks
Dean Jones has reported Leeds United may now be willing to let Wilfried Gnonto quit Elland Road despite serious talks over offering him a new contract just weeks ago.
The former Eurosport journalist questioned the internal conversations at Leeds, with a tug-of-war seemingly ongoing over his future at the club.
Jones continued by sharing his view that fans will be left confused over Gnonto’s future given the saga in the summer transfer window and the turnaround the club have made on their stance.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT [20 December], Jones questioned: “Honestly, this is like a tug of war internally over whether Gnonto is staying or going. A few weeks ago, there was serious talk about him signing a new contract.
“So it seems quite a serious turnaround to now be willing to offload him when that really hasn’t ever been their stance before. Obviously, there was the whole saga over the summer and he came back and he got back into things and now he’s out of the side again.
“The Leeds fans obviously forgave him initially and now they’re probably wondering what’s going on long term.”
Plenty of confusion
Given the determination with which Leeds kept their stance in the summer that Gnonto would not be leaving Elland Road, despite multiple reported bids from Everton which peaked with a £25.7million bid on deadline day [Shamoon Hafez, 1 September], it would be a surprise for them to let him go in January.
However, given the lack of playing time Gnonto has received in recent weeks, it is entirely possible that he would be questioning his role under Daniel Farke and asking questions about his position at the club.
Just six Championship starts so far this season for the Italian is not where anybody thought we would be after 22 games given the summer saga around him, but perhaps it will serve as a learning curve for the 20-year-old as part of his development.
The news that there were serious talks taking place over handing him a new contract makes the situation even more bizarre, with a clear disconnect somewhere within Elland Road on where they picture Gnonto’s long-term future.
In other Leeds United news, Ian Holloway has predicted the score for the Ipswich clash.