Arsenal star reveals how hijacked Leeds United transfer led to ‘dream’ move

Arsenal star Auston Trusty has revealed how he almost joined Leeds United ahead of agreeing to join the Gunners.

Leeds are no strangers to signing American talent, given their signings of Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie amid Jesse Marsch’s previous presence at Elland Road. Marsch has now moved on following a disappointing campaign, leading to the appointment of Javi Gracia.

But the Americans signed by the club remain, and it seems there could have been had things gone a little differently on the transfer front. In 2022, Arsenal signed promising defender Trusty from the Colorado Rapids, and they managed to beat Leeds to a deal according to the player himself, who is now on loan with Birmingham City in the Championship, hoping to impress the Gunners from afar.

“I knew they (Arsenal) were interested, I was doing my thing in Colorado, we were doing well, we were leading the Western Conference and during that process [I was]doing really well and I had teams watching me,” the 24-year-old told the Deeney Talks podcast.

“Finally I had a few teams, I was thinking about going and I was actually going to Leeds. Then Arsenal came into the picture and I just basically said, ‘Make this happen.’ I let my agent do all that kind of stuff and I just focused on football because what I was doing in Colorado was attracting the attention of the likes of Arsenal.

“For some reason you have to be really quiet about everything, you don’t want the deal to turn into a shambles so I didn’t even tell my parents, I didn’t even tell my friends, tell none of my team-mates, this was my dream – I was not playing around. My parents could wait dude. So literally when things were finalised, then I told them.”