OPINION
Ronaldo Vieira may well have provided the best insight into how the Leeds United board will react to Samuel Saiz’s attempts to engineer a return to Spain next month.
The Yorkshire Evening Post broke the news on Thursday night that the playmaker is unhappy and unsettled, and eager to extricate himself from Elland Road as soon as the January window opens.
A considerable section of Leeds fans are upset at the possibility of losing a key player at the mid-point of the season just when their hopes of automatic promotion are looking hugely promising.
Yet, history suggests the United hierarchy will cash in on a player with considerable value, given that he is aged 27, has two-and-a-half years remaining on his contract and is one of the best playmakers in the Championship.
Andrea Radrizzani and his board sold Chris Wood for £15million in the summer of 2017 and, then, 12 months later, accepted a bid of around £7million for Ronaldo Vieira.
“The move was quite quick,” Vieira told Four Four Two this week of his summer transfer to Sampdoria. “They just came with an offer and that’s what happens – when the club receives a good offer, they accept it. I was willing and open to it, so everything went smoothly.”
Leeds fans will recall the Wood transfer went through quickly, too. There was none of the indecisiveness or endless negotiations that accompany so many big-money transfers.
Vieira’s insight strongly suggests Leeds will try and get the maximum price for Saiz, and then sanction a quickfire exit. As he says, when the club gets a “good offer”, they sell.
Expect the Spaniard to be gone in the next few weeks.