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'My information is...' - Athletic journalist shares huge De Paul-Leeds update
Leeds United feel it is “impossible” for them to agree a deal with Udinese for midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, according to The Athletic journalist David Ornstein.
The former BBC Sport reporter wrote on The Athletic’s app on Tuesday morning that while Leeds’ interest in De Paul, 26, is “genuine”, the Premier League club is unwilling to meet Udinese’s valuation of the Argentina international.
Reports elsewhere have suggested that the Serie A club won’t settle for anything less than £36.8million (€40million) for the midfielder [Fabrizio Romano].
Since winning promotion to the Premier League, Leeds have signed Helder Costa permanently from Wolves for £15million and Illan Meslier permanently from Lorient for £5million.
On top of a number of younger players joining the Under-23s, Leeds have also shelled out a further £27million in the club-record signing of Rodrigo while Robin Koch’s move from Freiburg cost the Whites £13million.
It means that Leeds have already spent at least £60million on transfers since the end of last season while there’s no doubt that their wage bill has also risen massively.
Of course, being promoted to the Premier League is a massive financial reward and Leeds do have an owner in Andrea Radrizzani who is willing to invest in the club.
But in the financial climate we’re in due to the coronavirus pandemic, we can’t see the Whites spending a further £36.8million to take their summer spend to almost £100million.
De Paul’s an Argentina international who has proven himself in Serie A so you can see why Udinese would demand that much money from him.
But the player has already confirmed in a now-deleted tweet that he’s interested in a move to Elland Road and he is known to have a bit of a “nasty streak“, according to ESPN journalist David Amoya.
Who knows? Maybe player power will push this deal through but it does not sound at all good from Leeds’ end at the moment.
With them seeing the deal as “impossible”, we might as well lower our expectations.
In other Leeds United news, Paul Merson was wowed by what he saw in Leeds’ defeat at Liverpool.