Phil Hay responds to Leeds fan query on Lewis O’Brien
Phil Hay has insisted that Leeds United never went anywhere near spending £13million for Huddersfield midfielder Lewis O’Brien.
The Terriers’ chairman Phil Hodgkinson shared after the window that the Whites had placed an offer up to that amount.
Hay shut that down, shutting down any potential for a future move despite a release clause in O’Brien’s new contract.
Writing in the comments of his latest piece for The Athletic, Hay shut down any rumours regarding Leeds’ interest.
“Just to say, at no stage did Leeds bid £13m for O’Brien,” he wrote. “Nothing like it.
“They weren’t willing to go much over £4m and the deal stalled on that basis. They’d already decided not to both going higher when James became available so the two weren’t linked in any way.”
Chairman talk.
Of course, the likes of Hodgkinson are going to talk up the amount of money that was on the table for his star man in the summer.
If other potential interested clubs hear that an eight-figure sum was rejected, they may put a similar offer on the table – meaning major profit for Huddersfield.
Leeds didn’t even throw half of that amount at our local rivals, so his initial claims simply make no sense whatsoever.
Although midfield is an area that clearly needs strengthening, Victor Orta and his team appear confident in Adam Forshaw.
Links have appeared with Getafe midfielder John Patrick this week though [TEAMtalk], and he could be the new name to watch heading into January.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Bielsa loves him’ – Phil Hay drops major Whites injury news, big change likely to happen