Leeds United: Casper Sloth quits Leeds for Aalborg

United have followed up the departure of Italians Tommaso Bianchi and Giuseppe Bellusci by finalising a deal to end Sloth’s unhappy time at Elland Road.

The Denmark international was two years into a three-year contract but had been an anonymous presence at Leeds for much of his stay and United have sold him to Aalborg for an undisclosed fee.

Sloth was left behind on Sunday as Garry Monk’s squad travelled to Ireland for a two-week training camp, with talks between Leeds and Aalborg at an advanced stage.

He trained under Monk at Thorp Arch last week, the first week of the club’s pre-season campaign, but Leeds concluded negotiations to part company with him yesterday afternoon.

United had already succeeded in removing Bianchi from the wage bill by allowing Ascoli to convert the midfielder’s recent loan into a permanent transfer.

Bianchi had two years left on his contract at Elland Road but last featured for United’s first team over a year ago and Ascoli confirmed to the YEP on Thursday that they were taking up an option to sign the 26-year-old permanently.

Bellusci’s difficult spell with Leeds, meanwhile, appears to be over after Empoli signed him on Friday on a season-long loan with a view to a full-time transfer.

The centre-back had missed the first few days of pre-season training for family reasons and his move back to Italy was sealed ahead of the start of United’s training camp in southern Ireland.

Bellusci is also contracted to Leeds until 2018 but he is not expected to return to the club next summer or add to his 61 club appearances.

Sloth himself played just 14 times for United, including seven league starts, and he had not been used by Leeds since starting in a 2-0 defeat at Brighton in February 2015.

The 24-year-old has previously been linked with loan moves out of Elland Road but his failure to secure a transfer elsewhere limited him to outings with United’s development squad.

Speaking after an Under-21 game against Coventry City last season, Sloth – a player capped eight times by Denmark – said: “This is the only thing I can do, perform when I’m playing here. I can’t really change what’s going on with the first team.

“It’s not only a few months (out of the first-team picture), rather nine or 10 months. That’s football, that’s how it is, I can’t really change anything about it.”

Leeds invested a £600,000 fee in Sloth when they signed him from Aarhus in 2014, bringing him to England on the back of Aarhus’ relegation from the Danish Superliga.Aalborg are currently fifth in Denmark’s top flight and moved to sign Sloth ahead of their next league game on Sunday afternoon.

Sloth, who has signed a three-year contract with Aalborg, told the club's official website: "I think today I'm a more complete player than when I went to England."