Leeds United were a whisker away from signing Florian Jozefzoon before a last-gasp twist in negotiations, Andrea Radrizzani has revealed.
The United owner told the Yorkshire Evening Post of his frustration at losing out on the capture of the winger at the end of last month as Derby won the race to sign him from Brentford.
“We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent,” Radrizzani explained to the YEP. “Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”
Derby signed the Dutch wide man for a fee of around £1.5million even though their bid had been matched by Leeds.
OPINION
With speed, creativity and the ability to run in behind defenders, Jozefzoon is certainly an impressive capture by Derby. Credit to Leeds for pushing hard to sign a bona fide Championship winner, but Radrizzani’s claims that he is unconcerned at missing out on signing the 27-year-old are not totally convincing. What is apparent now is how close United actually were to getting the deal done, as the Italian businessman reveals for the first time that Jozefzoon was headed for a medical and that contracts had been exchanged with his former club Brentford. Losing out is a blow to Leeds, whatever Radrizzani now says, as the current squad do not have a wide player of Jozefzoon’s pace and ability to rip full-backs to shreds. Pablo Hernandez is a mighty fine player but cannot burn opponents any more, while the likes of Kemar Roofe, Stuart Dallas, Ezgjan Alioski and company are not really capable of bursting past players. Jozefzoon would have offered something completely different.