Leeds United were initially the favourites to sign former Hull City striker Abel Hernandez and keep him in the Championship for another season.
Leeds United fans clearly think they have dodged a bullet.
For a long time this summer, it seemed that Abel Hernandez was the Championship club’s first-choice target as they aimed to sign a striker with a proven track record in England’s second tier.
Uruguay international Hernandez scored eight goals in nine starts during an injury-hit 2017/18 for Hull, and finished as the league’s top scorer as the Tigers sealed promotion to the Premier League three years ago.
But it quickly became apparent after his Hull contract expired that Hernandez was pricing himself out of a move to Elland Road.
Leeds are not among the richest clubs in the Championship so Hernandez’s weekly demands of £100,000 a week, as reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post, obviously killed any hopes of a switch to West Yorkshire.
Instead, the former Palermo man looked set for a money-spinning move to Russia with Champions League regulars CSKA Moscow. But, in a dramatic turn of events, Urugol is reporting that Hernandez failed his medical and therefore remains a free agent after CSKA decided not to take the (very expensive) risk.
Hernandez missed four months of last season with a thigh injury, so perhaps this is the root of his problems. But, with Patrick Bamford now on board, Leeds fans are breathing a sigh of relief that they did not sign a player with a history of fitness issues as their most expensive earner.
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