Leeds United’s ‘aggressive’ transfer approach revealed as ‘can’t compete’ claim made

Leeds United are now just days away from returning to action as the international begins to wind down.

The Whites will be itching to go now that their squad is settled following a very busy summer transfer window which saw players depart and arrive right up until the very end. Daniel Farke now knows who he has to work with until January, and that should allow him to really put his own stamp on this squad as far as his style of play is concerned.

In the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Elland Road.

Late transfer attempts

Ben Jacobs has revealed some of the work Leeds tried to do at the back end of the summer window.

He told GiveMeSport: “Their two main options in the final days and weeks in the window were Luke Thomas at Leicester - multiple approaches were made but Leicester had no desire to loan to a Championship rival, so he ended up going to Sheffield United. And Charlie Taylor at Burnley could have returned to Leeds as well, but there was no appetite on the Burnley part either.

“So Leeds tried, they were quite aggressive in their approach, particularly for Thomas, because they knew the urgency. But, they just couldn’t get that deal over the line.”

Piroe claim

Swansea City chief Paul Watson has explained how the Welsh club couldn’t compete with what Leeds offered Joel Piroe.

“I had a lot of conversations with Joel. I have had conversations with a lot of players. I have said there are two things I will be – I will be fair and I will be honest,” Watson old WalesOnline.

“We ultimately wanted to try to keep Joel but what he wanted and what his representatives wanted wasn’t within the structure of the football club. We felt we couldn’t break that structure because of the knock-on effect. That was coupled with an offer that came in. We had an internal valuation and that was met and exceeded in some contingents.

“When you are getting a return on an investment, he indicated that he wasn’t going to sign a new contract and you can’t compete with a club who have parachute payments, that all came to a point where you say what do we do, we get the absolute best for the football club. We can get something we can then reinvest and strengthen as we go.”