Transfers

‘Talked about it’ – Leeds United insider discloses details of high profile summer transfer saga

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Leeds United had talks about the possibility of signing Rodrigo De Paul during the summer transfer window, but ultimately decided to pursue other targets.

That’s according to the club’s head of European Recruiting, Gabriel Ruiz, who has been talking to TuttoMercatoWeb about the club’s rumoured interest in the Udinese and Argentina midfielder.

Following their promotion to the Premier League at the end of last season, De Paul was heavily linked with a move to Elland Road, as the Whites looked to strengthen their side to compete in the top-flight of English football.

But despite De Paul seemingly making his desire for a move to Leeds clear with some high profile social media activity, no deal ever materialised for the midfielder.

Now however, it seems as though there was certainly some form of interest in De Paul from Leeds during the summer, although he was not the only player on their list of recruitment options, judging by Ruiz’ latest comments.

Recounting the events of the summer that saw De Paul linked so strongly with Leeds, Ruiz told TMW“There was actually some contact. We talked about it, but then we decided to focus on other options.”

Ultimately, Leeds did not bring in a central midfield alternative to De Paul, although they did break their transfer record to sign striker Rodrigo Moreno from Valencia, while winger Raphinha and central defensive duo Robin Koch and Diego Llorente also arrived on big money deals.

This does make sense in many ways.

Given the quality De Paul possesses, and Leeds’ apparent need for a central midfielder, you can understand why they might have discussed the possibility of a move for the 26-year-old.

However, given it was suggested that Udinese were demanding €40million for De Paul, you can’t blame Leeds for moving onto other targets, given the amount they spent on other players over the summer, in what was a difficult financial situaton.

Even so, the fact they did not bring in De Paul or another central midfielder does seem to have hampered them at times this season, and it will be interesting to see if that is something they look to address when the window reopens again at the turn of the year.

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UCLan Sports Journalism graduate. Have been working for Leeds All Over since summer 2020, and can only be found writing on Football League World.