Leeds Utd could be in hot water with football authorities, after Bournemouth openly challenged them regarding the activation of Tyler Adams’ release clause. The Cherries believe they activated the USA skippers £20m exit, before it expired on Wednesday, an allegation Leeds vehemently deny. This is could be an innocent mistake! It’s completely plausible that the Elland Road bigwigs do not know what day of the week it is.
The other conceivable option is that their team of lawyers have come up with a Baldrick style cunning plan, similar to the one they used in the Jean-Kevin Augustin fiasco. Either way, these things rarely end well for Leeds. According to Phil Hay…
We have been told from the Bournemouth end that Bournemouth think they activated Adams’ clause on Monday, or at least made a bid that would have gone close. You would think, given the clause is self-explanatory, they would have hit it right on the button. “But he’s still here, he was at Thorp Arch yesterday (Wednesday, 16 August). “He hasn’t gone at this stage. It’s all rather opaque, really.
Speaking on his podcast The Hard Truth, Peterborough Utd owner Darragh MacAnthony has told (both) his viewers, that those responsible for the loan clauses at Elland Road should be lined up, shot, and never be allowed to work in football again!
The outspoken entrepreneur has a habit of rubbing people up the wrong way, and isn’t shy about expressing his views. Just like the rest of us, the 47yo found it difficult to fathom how players were allowed to leave en masse as long as their wages covered!
Despite all the negatively, he was cautionarily optimistic that Leeds would return back to the top flight in the next two years.
“Whoever put a ******** loan clause in for relegation needs to be lined up, shot, and never allowed to work in football again. I don’t know who did those deals – the guy that was there before? I’m sure it’s not the current ownership.
“The idea that…yes, a relegation [transfer] clause, you sign a premium young player from Europe, their agent is going to go ‘well Leeds are going to go down, if Leeds go down, £25m’, so [Leeds] get their money back and a profit.”
“But to allow a clause that states that said player can go out on loan if his wages are paid for the season, where you get none of your fee back…the player can go on loan, have a ******** season wherever they go on loan and then completely lose their value – and worse than that, your team is weakened.
“I feel sorry for the people that have now taken over fully that that’s happened, and I feel sorry for the manager, because they’ve lost some ******* key players, they’re going to continue to lose players – they lost Harrison last week, one of the strikers doesn’t want to play – and the worst part is they haven’t really done any business.
“So I don’t know if it’s going to be like lastminute.com where you’re going to see Leeds sign five or six players. I’ve said this before, they are a ******* gigantic club. I think they’re under good new ownership, I think they’re going to be fine, I do think they’re going to get back to the Premier League in the next two years.
“But they need to put their foot down on bringing in players to help Daniel Farke, and that needs to happen from tomorrow onwards with two weeks left in the window, so that late in the window they haven’t got issues with it, and they need to learn that never again do you ever agree to put a loan clause in.
“Sell clause, fine for relegation, but a loan close… ******** move on to another player. So that was just bad business from the previous hierarchy, allowing that to happen, and I feel for the Leeds fans.”
Cannon move backfires
Leeds Utd’s pursuit of Everton starlet Tom Cannon rests solely on the Toffee’s being able to find a suitable replacement! The 20 year old striker is highly thought of with fans from the blue side of Merseyside, but will let him leave if they can strike a deal with Leicester City for Patson Daka. The Foxes are not in the habit of letting their talent leave on the cheap, and have demanding £23m.
Further sources have suggested that Everton may turn their attention to Saints striker Che Adams. The 27 year old has already netted twice this season, and just like Leicester, will only sell if it suits them. Cannon, a product of Everton’s youth system spent the second half of last season on loan at Preston, where he scored 8 times from 20 appearances. A host of Championship clubs are interested in his services, though his £8m price tag may be too rich for most.
