Daniel James’ move to Leeds United collapsed due to the structure of the loan fee payments, according to Phil Hay.
The Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent delivered a series of overnight tweets explaining why the transfer fell through even though James had passed a medical and was at Elland Road waiting to be unveiled when the deadline passed.
He explained that Swansea City’s version of events was they weren’t happy with Leeds’ plan to pay a £1.5million loan fee for James “at the end of the season or with the way a future fee was going to be structured”.
Leeds did then agree to pay £750,000 up front, with the remainder to come in June, but a deal could still not be agreed.
the version I've been given is that Leeds originally planned to pay a £1.5m loan fee for James in June. Swansea then asked for £750,000 up front with the rest to come at the end of the season. Leeds were willing to agree to that.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) February 1, 2019
OPINION
More great detail from the impeccable Hay, who has delivered every cough and spit of this transfer over the last week; the negotiations, the ups, the downs, and, finally, the eleventh-hour collapse. Certainly, no Leeds or Swansea fan would have seen this coming once it emerged that James was undergoing medical tests at the Yorkshire giants. But, it is telling how little money Leeds were willing to pay up front for James. In a way, who could blame Swansea for holding firm and refusing to sell the player? It is not uncommon for transfer payments to be spread out over a period of time, but such a puny up-front figure – initially, Swansea claim, Leeds were unwilling to hand over a single penny and that only changed late in the day – suggests there is a startling lack of money in the United coffers. Owner Andrea Radrizzani has played the PR game very well for most of his United tenure, and the recruitment of Marcelo Bielsa was a spectacular coup, but no-one could accuse him of being an overly-generous owner.