KRC Genk chairman Peter Croonen appears to have indicated that Joseph Paintsil’s £8.5 million move to Championship giants Leeds United is now off the cards.
Like team-mate Mike Tresor, the Ghana international will play no part in Genk’s UEFA Conference League play-off clash against Adana Demirspor tonight. But while the absence of assist-machine Tresor is due to those ongoing ‘negotiations’ with Burnley, the reason for Joseph Paintsil’s unavailability is a little more straightforward.
Paintsil is suspended; picking up a red card against Olympiakos in the last round.
Croonen admits that Tresor is likely to have played his final game in blue-and-black; the Belgian playmaker has agreed terms over a move to Turf Moor. But, in contrast, Genk’s chairman appears increasingly confident that the Burnley-bound playmaker will be the only key departure before the window closes.
“As long as it has not been signed (with Burnley), then it is not a foregone conclusion. But it is more likely that (Tresor) will no longer play for Genk than he will,” Croonen tells Sporza.
“Tresor should be the only one who leaves. Although you never know until the end of the window.”
Leeds deal for Joseph Paintsil reportedly collapses
Leeds United, according to The Athletic, made an £8.5 million bid for Paintsil recently. And while the player himself is keen on the move, Daniel Farke’s side appear to have little appetite of spending the final few hours of a hectic window jumping through hoops attempting to tie up a deal with more obstacles than a Crazy Golf convention.
Sky Sports say that Leeds could withdraw their offer, feeling that Genk have ‘moved the goalposts’. Reports from his native Ghana, meanwhile, go as far as to say that negotiations have ‘collapsed’; Leeds and Paintsil’s representative still poles apart with regards to personal terms.
Paintsil scored an outstanding 18 goals while setting up 14 more for Genk in 2022/23. His dazzling form also caught the eye of Southampton. Leeds’ disappointment will, at least, be offset by the news that Wilfried Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra appear to have committed their immediate future to the Championship challengers.
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