Leeds United confirm Salerno departure

Confirming the news, the club tweeted: “Nicola Salerno has departed his role as Sporting Director at #lufc after a mutual termination of his contract was reached.

“We would like to thank Nicola for his efforts over the last year and he will always be welcomed back to Elland Road in the future.”

Back in April, club owner Massimo Cellino - who was at the time banned - confirmed that Salerno had resigned following speculation about his position in the wake of the suspension of former United assistant head coach Steve Thompson.

Thompson had been suspended until the end of the season over an “internal issue” and told that his contract would not be renewed when it expired in the summer.

Cellino has claimed he had “been told that Salerno was disrespected by Thompson” after Leeds’ 3-0 win over Fulham on March 18.

Although sources close to Thompson denied that there was any fall-out between the pair at Craven Cottage.

Salerno, who had previously worked under Cellino at Cagliari, helped to arrange the arrival of 15 new players at Leeds last summer.

Salerno, who has been linked with a move to Serie A side Palermo, had another year of his Elland Road contract still to run and is believed to have played an instrumental role in persuading Sol Bamba to join United on a permanent basis.

Bamba completed his full-time move to Leeds yesterday, signed a two-year deal, with the option of a third.