Leeds United have been locked in negotiations with Samuel Saiz over the last 24 hours as he tries to force through a quickfire exit from Elland Road, according to Phil Hay.
The Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent delivered a series of updates on the future of the Spanish playmaker in Twitter exchanges with United fans late on Thursday night after breaking the story earlier in the evening that the 27-year-old has told the club he wants to quit and return to Spain.
Hay explained there were “lengthy discussions” between Leeds and Saiz on Thursday and revealed the club have no intention of hanging on to an “unhappy player”.
The United expert expects the story to “develop quickly” and it will be a “lot clearer” by Friday night, in a clear suggestion Saiz could soon leave the club.
hasn’t settled though, wife is pregnant and they’re keen to go home. The choice is whether to keep an unhappy player, which Leeds won’t. Been lengthy discussions about it today.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) December 13, 2018
what I know in this stage is all in the story. Think this will develop quickly though.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) December 13, 2018
wouldn’t be surprised if this is all a lot clearer in 24 hours time
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) December 13, 2018
OPINION
Behind the scenes, it appears this has been something going on for some time, and not as out of the blue as the bombshell report from the Yorkshire Evening Post on Thursday evening that Saiz was pushing for a return to Spain might suggest. He is being strongly linked with Getafe, who are placed a very respectable eighth in La Liga. There is a sense from Hay, who knows the club’s workings as well as any journalist, that Leeds will not hang on to Saiz and risk having a demotivated and dissatisfied player in their dressing room for the second half of the season. Has the player been given the green light to go, and it is now a question of negotiating the price Getafe will pay? That could well be the case. Leeds have been a selling club during the Andrea Radrizzani era, with Ronaldo Vieira and Chris Wood both offloaded for big money, £7million and £15million respectively. The club are likely to make a tidy profit, too, on Saiz, signed from second-tier Huesca for £3million in the summer of 2017.