Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis has said that the club have got a “good deal” with the sale of Patrick Bamford after confirming that the striker wanted to leave and join Leeds United.
The Whites secured the signing of the English hitman earlier this week to total five new arrivals at Elland Road, the 24-year-old leaving the Riverside a year and a half after joining on a permanent move from Chelsea.
Speaking about the forward’s departure, Pulis has revealed that Bamford wanted the exit and that Boro were happy to sanction the deal as they look for players keen to play for the club.
As quoted by Leeds Live, he said: “You can’t push people out. Players have got to want to go, Patrick wanted to go.
“We’ve got a good deal, we want players who want to be at this football club and we’ll go from there.
“He had two or three years left on his contract. If he wanted to stay all he had to say was ‘I don’t want to go’. We weren’t shoehorning him out of the club.”
Opinion
This is a fascinating insight from Pulis on Bamford’s transfer exit, and it sounds as though he might be feeling a little bit bitter about how it came about. The 24-year-old did not fire on all cylinders last season but Boro would still have been reluctant to lose a man of his talents. Leeds fans will be left feeling pretty pleased to know that Bamford was offered the opportunity to stay in the north east and instead still chose to move to Elland Road, and although he might not be the illustrious name that Matej Vydra or Abel Hernandez are, he can still do a decent job up top. The slow start to the transfer window, courtesy of the prolonged hunt for Paul Heckingbottom’s replacement, is long in the memory and five arrivals signifies some good business, Bamford perhaps the stand out capture. With Boro having wanted to keep a hold of him, it shows just how valued he is in the Championship – now to prove his worth by firing Leeds to some success.