Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show and he has been talking about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that he spent some time on was why the Whites decided to sign Rodrigo instead of Ollie Watkins, who moved to Aston Villa for £28m potentially rising to £33m.
Leeds were linked with a move for the Brentford striker after he scored 26 goals in all competitions last season, but, in the end, they went for 29-year-old Rodrigo instead.
It seems as if Leeds decided that Rodrigo, with his international experience, was a better deal than paying more for a player who had never played in a top European league before the start of this season.
He said: “They would have done Ollie Watkins quite happily although I think they felt his fee was [the] absolute maximum valuation, I think they felt like it was getting expensive for him.
“But, given that Rodrigo was there to be done, and Rodrigo is Spain’s number nine and the experience he had in comparison to Watkins, it was very hard to argue that the way to go was to pay Brentford £28m [for Watkins].”
Who would you have been happier with?
Rodrigo
Watkins
TIF Thoughts…
Watkins, who is valued at £10.8m by Transfermarkt, had a brilliant season for the Bees but, it seems as if the Whites saw paying £27m for a full Spanish international and a player with Champions League experience as a better deal than paying more for a 24-year-old who had spent most of his career in the Championship and League Two.
It is hard to say what looks the better deal at the moment as we are still in the early stages of the season, but Rodrigo has struggled so far, while Watkins has done well in the Premier League.
However, you cannot really argue with Leeds’ logic in picking Rodrigo over Watkins, but it will be interesting to see if they made the right choice by the end of the season.