Phil Hay: Leeds United still saying no to Brazil gold medal winner Matheus Cunha
Phil Hay has been told by Leeds United they are not in the hunt to sign Matheus Cunha this summer.
Cunha, 22, scored in the Olympics final on Saturday as Brazil won the gold medal against Spain in a 2-1 victory in Tokyo.
The Hertha Berlin forward has been consistently linked with a move to Leeds this summer with German newspaper Berliner-Kurier reporting this week that he’s flirting with an Elland Road transfer.
After winning a gold medal for Brazil, The Athletic journalist Hay was asked whether a deal for Cunha will speed up now the Olympics are over.
However, Hay put a dampener on that and said: “”hey’ve been saying no to the Cunha rumours all summer.”
One for the future?
We can understand why Leeds do not feel as though they need to sign Cunha.
Berliner-Kurier reported that it may take £23.2million to prise the ex-RB Leipzig forward away from Hertha Berlin and Leeds’ business this summer has been rather muted.
We spent a lot of money last year after winning promotion and it seems the club is happy to progress slowly and naturally rather than throwing huge wads of money at clubs to sign their players each summer.
Cunha is similar to what Leeds already have in Rodrigo and Patrick Bamford as he’s a forward who likes to drop deep, link up with fellow attackers and impress with his technical qualities.
Marcelo Bielsa is bound to like other things about Cunha, especially his versatility and the fact he’s still only 22 and has room to improve and develop.
If the Whites do sign Cunha, it could be next year or the year after that but we don’t see a deal happening this year based on what Hay has been told by the club in regards to Brazil’s Olympic hero.
In other Leeds United news, a player had decided on his next club after the Whites pushed all the way to try and sign him.