Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that he spent some time on was transfers, and provided the latest on the Whites’ interest in Rodrigo De Paul.
Hay claims that the problem with negotiations over De Paul is still the price, and though personal terms will be no problem for the Whites, they must agree a fee with Udinese.
He said: “There’s real substance to that, Leeds do genuinely like him, [are] genuinely interested in him [and] have been looking closely and obviously investigating that deal.
“But Udinese are looking for around about £35m, and at the moment, there’s no sign that Leeds are going to jump on that one and get it done at that price.
“It’s very doable in terms of De Paul’s salary, I mean that would fit into the wage bill no problem, and they would give him a long contract of four years if they were to do it – and clearly he wants to come.
“The unfortunate thing for him is that him liking tweets or replying to tweets – nods and winks and so on – is irrelevant when it comes to the question of, are Leeds going to pay what Udinese want?”
Is De Paul a player you want at Leeds?
Yes, he looks quality
No, not keen
TIF Thoughts…
It was reported on Fabrizio Romano’s latest episode of his Here We Go podcast that Leeds had agreed personal terms with De Paul, though the two teams were quite far away in terms of agreeing a fee, with Leeds’ offer well below what the Serie A side are asking for.
De Paul clearly wants to move to Elland Road, as can be seen by him liking tweets related to Leeds and even putting a tweet out that suggested he wanted to join the Whites.
Nevertheless, negotiations appear to be at a standstill.
The Argentine is a versatile player having played across the midfield throughout his career – and contributed seven goals and six assists in Serie A last season.
So, if he were to join the Whites, he could be a good addition, considering seven league goals would have made him Leeds’ third-top goalscorer last season and six assists would have made him Leeds’ third-highest assist provider.
So, the question is, can the Whites agree a fee for De Paul?