Phil Hay has been on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show, talking about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that he discussed was the Whites’ ongoing pursuit of Rodrigo de Paul.
Leeds have been linked with the Udinese man since the end of August, but according to Hay, the deal has not gone very far.
It seems as if Hay is unsure of why the Whites have not really tried to sign De Paul when he is a target, and that suggests to him that Marcelo Bielsa is perhaps no longer keen on signing the Argentinian.
He said: “It’s been a very odd saga, this one, because it’s not that Leeds aren’t interested in him – they have made that plain.
“It’s not as if this has been invented; it’s not a figment of somebody’s imagination; he has been on the list of potential targets.
“But at no stage over the past three weeks have they gone for it with this one, and I know that the asking price is high at €35m.
“It doesn’t feel as if they’ve been banging on Udinese’s door trying to drag the price down or if they have been trying to find another way to do it.
“To a large extent, it seems to have sat dormant, which suggests to you that somebody isn’t too bothered about this, which would lead you back to Bielsa, really. I don’t doubt for a minute that Bielsa likes him as a player, I’m sure he will see the talent in him. But I do feel that if De Paul was an out-and-out target that he desperately wanted, that Leeds would have done far more on this in the past few weeks.”
Do you think Leeds will sign De Paul?
No, we won't
Yes, it will happen
TIF Thoughts…
De Paul has made it very clear that he would like to move to Elland Road by, first of all, liking some tweets that asked him if he was moving to Leeds.
He later posted a tweet saying that he wanted to move to Elland Road – which was later deleted – so it seems as if the player is keen, but it remains to be seen whether Bielsa shares that level of enthusiasm, based on Hay’s comments and Leeds’ apparent inactivity over the negotiations at present.
The latest on the move, provided by Fabrizio Romano, was that there was ‘still no agreement’ reached between the Whites and the Serie A side, suggesting that perhaps Leeds are not that bothered about signing De Paul.
It will be intriguing to see what happens with this deal before the end of the transfer window.