Journalist James Marshment has urged Leeds United not to sanction a transfer for Jack Harrison this summer.
Marshment was speaking amid reports that Leeds have ‘swiftly’ rejected a £25m bid from Newcastle for the winger.
It was previously revealed that the Whites would be seeking around about £35m for the 25-year-old who they brought in permanently from Manchester City last summer with the Premier League champions holding a 20% sell-on clause.
Harrison himself responded to the speculation surrounding his future after the club’s pre-season friendly defeat to Aston Villa (1-0) saying “We’ll see, we’ll see what happens” while his manager Jesse Marsch stated that he ‘unintentionally’ brought attention to himself with the comments and now Marshment claimed he must be retained but for a ‘stupid’ offer.
Speaking on the JustJoe Football Show, he said:
“I think it would have to take stupid money [to sell him], and I think above what the Leeds valuation is. From what we understand, the Leeds valuation is around the £35m mark.
“Honestly, I believe that’s a fair reflection. The Newcastle bid is apparently – if you’re led to believe what you see – around £18m.
“I mean, we paid £13m for him a year ago. It’s not worth only £5m profit for Leeds. It’s just not something worth entertaining.
“So that bid was laughed [off] out of hand, quite rightly.
“There’s claims that Newcastle think that they can still get him, but listening to what Jesse Marsch was saying the other day in Australia, I don’t think it’ll be a chance Leeds will sell him, to be honest with you.
“So, in all honesty, I can see him staying at Leeds, and Leeds would be sheer madness to consider selling him.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds United…
Could you see Jack Harrison leaving Leeds this summer?
Yes
No
Victor Orta may well have been busy this summer bolstering the Whites squad with six new additions but they have also seen arguably their two best players depart.
Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips have already left and considering only the Brazillian scored more goals than Harrison (10) last term it could be a loss the club fails to come back from.
TalkSport pundit Jamie O’Hara has already suggested that the club could be in big trouble so perhaps it would be in their best interests to hold on to a key player as even if the money is right it could be hard to reinvest accordingly.