Andrea Radrizzani comments on Ronaldo Vieira’s Leeds exit and Marcelo Bielsa’s reaction

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Leeds United surprised many of their fans by selling young midfielder Ronaldo Vieira to Sampdoria.

Andrea Radrizzani has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that he joked with Ronaldo Vieira ahead of his move away from Leeds that he would like to bring him back to Elland Road in the future once the Whites return to the Premier League, while he also said that Marcelo Bielsa told him that his value would double by next summer if he stayed.

The Championship side surprised many this week by sanctioning Vieira’s £7.7 million move to Sampdoria. While the youngster struggled to impress last season and appeared to not be at the top of Marcelo Bielsa’s pecking order, it was still a surprise that Radrizzani decided to cash in on the player who was the first to sign a new contract when the Italian completed his takeover last year.

Despite sanctioning the sale, Radrizzani expressed his belief that the England under-21 international will prove to be a Premier League-calibre player in the future, and suggested that Bielsa did not want to see him sold.

“To be honest and fair, Marcelo told me he was a player who had value and he could count on him, not in the line-up but as a first option on the bench. To give me advice, he said ‘if you take £7m this year you would take double next year for the way he will go’,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“I believe his move to Sampdoria will improve his skills because it’s a club where they take care of youth and they’ve proven to develop youngsters amazingly. They have a very good coach. His weaknesses can improve in Italy in my opinion and he could come back to be a top Premier League player in a few years. I joked with him and said I hope to be in the Premier League and buy him back. I hope this joke can become true one day,” he went on to add.

The reaction to Vieira’s departure seemed to be met with a much more mixed response from the fans than a deal would have been had it been done one year earlier.

There were greater concerns regarding whether Vieira would realise his potential at Leeds after his difficult 12 months, and there were plenty of fans who felt that Radrizzani was right to sell when the opportunity presented itself.

But Vieira unquestionably boasts an enormous amount of potential and could make that fee look like a major mistake on Leeds’ part in the coming years if his move to Italy works out. And it appears that Bielsa may have made a different decision if it was his call.