Speaking on his YouTube channel, Express journalist Ryan Taylor has been discussing Josko Gvardiol and Leeds’ attempts to sign him in 2020.
You may remember that Leeds submitted numerous bids for Gvardiol in the summer of 2020 after their promotion to the Premier League, but sadly, they couldn’t conclude a deal as RB Leipzig swooped.
According to Taylor, Leeds actually came very close to signing the Croatian star at that point, stating that Marcelo Bielsa was actually the one who really wanted to sign the defender two years ago.
Bielsa wanted Gvardiol
Taylor shared what he knows about this player and Leeds’ previous pursuit.
“Josko Gvardiol as well. He was absolutely exceptional regardless of being humiliated by Lionel Messi and his exceptional dribbling that tore Gvardiol apart. What’s kind of crazy is that this has slipped the memory, but he was close to joining Leeds before he joined Leipzig,” Taylor said.
“Leeds signed Diego Llorente from Sociedad instead, but Gvardiol was someone that Marcelo Bielsa really wanted to bring to the club, but Leipzig won the race and now we’re looking at potentially the world’s best young defender.”
Missed out
This has to go down as one of the Premier Leagues all-time near misses.
Gvardiol was just a teenager when Leeds were looking at him, and now, as Taylor says, he’s potentially the best young defender on the planet.
The World Cup showed that he’s got some world class attributes about him, and it’s fair to say that he’s worth a lot more than what Leeds almost paid for him back in 2020.
Who knows? Perhaps Bielsa would still be in a job at Elland Road had Victor Orta been able to conclude this deal for Gvardiol at the right time.
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