Angus Kinnear has spoken about what happened in the summer at Leeds United and says that the club had a player at Manchester City on their list, and one sold by Liverpool for £27m.
Leeds clocked up eight signings, but made eight sales and waved goodbye to five on loan and more on free transfers. Joe Rodon, Jayden Bogle Largie Ramazani, Isaac Schmidt and Ao Tanaka were all bought.
Manor Solomon and Joe Rothwell have joined on loan from Tottenham and Bournemouth. Alex Cairns has joined for a nominal fee as third-choice goalkeeper, replacing the departure of player Kristoffer Klaesson.
Leeds fans were frustrated that a no.10 was not signed by the club in the last few days of the window. Even Daniel Farke made it clear he would like an attacking midfielder the day before the deadline.
Kinnear says Man City player and £27m star were on Leeds list
Kinnear has given a long-winded interview to The Square Ball, outlining what happened in the summer and he names Manchester City talent James McAtee as a player the club were interested in signing.
Fabio Carvalho, too. A player Leeds had shown interest in signing in January on loan, before he joined Hull City. However, Pep Guardiola chose to keep McAtee and Carvalho joined Brentford for a fee of £27m.
“The level we were looking at, McAtee at Man City. There was talk he might be released all through the window but then Pepe decided to keep him. Then Carvalho, who might have been able to go on loan.
“Either Premier League or Championship. We felt we first in the queue if it wasn’t the Premier League, but he joined Brentford for £27m. We are shopping at the highest level and there is lots of frustration.”
Kinnear also says Leeds wanted to sign player from Aston Villa
Daniel Farke has often been linked with players he’s previously worked with. Sam Byram joined Leeds last summer after he worked with the right-back at Norwich, and he also tried to sign Max Aarons a year ago.
Kinnear says that this summer, Leeds were interested in doing a deal for Argentina international Emi Buendia. The Aston Villa star of course, hit the headlines with his form for Norwich under manager Farke.
“Buendia was on our list and, very clearly from Aston Villa, wasn’t going to be released and the player didn’t want to come back down to Championship level. He felt he served his time at Championship level.”
Leave a Reply