Phil Hay has claimed that 26-year-old Ouasim Bouy was an “absolutely baffling” signing for Leeds.
The midfielder signed from Juventus on a free transfer in 2017 but has never made a senior appearance in his Elland Road career.
He was expected to leave over the summer with Athletic journalist Phil Hay saying that Leeds would likely pay off his contract if no club came in for him.
Anita and Bouy might have to be paid off. Depends on what happens with them today. Anita only has 12 months left. Bouy still has two more years.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) September 2, 2019
Vurnon Anita had his contract terminated by mutual consent but Bouy ended up staying on the books for Leeds. He’s under contract until June 2021.
In a Q&A on the Athletic website on Sunday, Hay was asked why Bouy didn’t have his contract terminated like Anita.
“He’s got two years to go so the cost of paying him up would be higher than the cost of paying off Anita,” Hay said.
“Leeds would like to be rid of him though. It’s been an absolutely baffling signing.”
The mystery of Bouy
Leeds fans had a right to be excited about Bouy, arriving as he did from Juventus.
He had made one senior appearance for the Italian giants, but only succeeded in getting a yellow card in his 22 minutes on the pitch for them.
As soon as he arrived at Leeds he was packed off to Cultural Leonesa on loan and alarm bells started ringing when he only made four appearances for them before arriving back in Leeds in January.
He spent last season on loan at PEC Zwolle, his second stint at the Dutch club, and he made 19 appearances for them without scoring or registering an assist.
That was after he scored four goals and registered seven assists in 26 games for them in the 15/16 season.
According to WyScout, he posted some decent numbers for PEC Zwolle – an 84% pass success rate, plus 4.75 interceptions and 1.56 clearances per 90 minutes – but he only played three times in the last 11 games as the Dutch side lost interest in him.
That’s seen him back at Leeds where no club came in for him over the summer. Leeds didn’t terminate his contract, as expected, which is a surprise. That would have made it possible for him to find a club outside of the transfer window.
It could still happen but it would involve both sides coming to an agreement and the only thing we can think is that Bouy is digging in and not taking an offer that doesn’t buy-out the proportion of his remaining salary that he wants.
Surely it would be better for both sides for him to go.
2017 a summer to forget for Victor Orta
Leeds director of football Victor Orta had a decidedly mixed summer in 2017, making a number of signings like Bouy who didn’t work out.
Jay-Roy Grot, Pawel Cibicki, Caleb Ekuban, Felix Wiedwald, Vurnon Anita, Matthew Pennington and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson all flopped.
However, he did have some success in a scattergun approach to transfers with Ezgjan Alioski and Mateusz Klich both still performing at a high level in the first team. Klich, especially, has come into his own under Marcelo Bielsa.