Leeds United

Leeds United: Conor McGilligan unhappy with Fabiano Parisi transfer decision

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Image for Leeds United: Conor McGilligan unhappy with Fabiano Parisi transfer decision

YouTuber Conor McGilligan has slammed Leeds United for their ‘contradictory’ decision not to sign left-back Fabiano Parisi this summer.

In an interview with Italian website Tuttomercatoweb (via LeedsLive), the Empoli defender’s agent, Mario Giuffredi, claimed that the Yorkshire side are keen on signing him after keeping tabs on him over the past transfer window.

The agent said: “We had many clubs, from Atalanta to Turin to Fiorentina, Leeds and Nice, also in agreement with Empoli we decided to wait.”

Seeing that Leeds had an ‘agreement’ with the player but failed to get the deal across the line, McGilligan has questioned the transfer decision.

Indeed, while speaking on the One Leeds Fan Channel, he explained that if the club were willing to sign teenager Wilfried Gnonto, they could have taken another chance on 21-year-old Parisi.

He explained: “According to his agent, who has been speaking to Tuttomercato – we’ve mentioned that publication on this channel many times before – apparently, his agent has been saying that a deal was agreed with Leeds United in the summer, but Leeds wanted to wait and see his progress.

“Now, if that is true, bit annoying, because they clearly really, really liked him. Nice are interested, Marseille are interested, they heavily liked the kid.

“Apparently Leeds wanted to wait and see his progress, which would obviously be quite contradictory, because we brought in Willy Gnonto, and the reason we bought him Willy Gnonto was because we needed someone through the door in that position, but ideally Leeds wanted to wait one or two transfer windows. So that would be quite contradictory.”

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TIF thoughts on Fabiano Parisi and Leeds United…

Still only 21, Parisi has represented Italy at youth level but is yet to play for the senior side. With that in mind, it would make sense that Leeds might have some reservations about his ability to make an impact in their first team right away.

And of course, they did splash the cash on Gnonto, who is just 18 years of age, though he has already played four times for Italy, scoring and assisting once in that time to prove his quality.

What’s more, Gnonto only arrived at the last minute because the club sold Dan James and their alternative options fell through, so the club may have had little choice but to sign him in this window rather than waiting to see how he progressed.

With Parisi, on the other hand, they evidently feel as if it is better to be patient – even if that does mean running the risk of losing out on him to the likes of Atalanta or Nice.

Will Wilfried Gnonto be a hit at Leeds?

Yes

Yes

No

No

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