‘It’s funny’: Club were slammed for ‘bad management’ after rejecting Leeds offer for £69m star

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Leeds United wanted Cody Gakpo over the summer and Ronald de Boer admits many questioned PSV Eindhoven’s decision not to sell.

Gakpo has been taking the World Cup by storm as a shining light in a fairly dull Netherlands side.

The PSV star has now scored in all three of his World Cup games, bagging against Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar.

Premier League clubs are now queueing up to sign Gakpo and that will only serve to frustrate Leeds United.

Leeds United wanted Cody Gakpo

Victor Orta thought he had a deal done for Gakpo before the summer transfer deadline.

Orta travelled to the Netherlands according to The Athletic, believing that Gakpo would be travelling back to England with him.

That didn’t happen though as Gakpo ended up staying at PSV until after the World Cup.

Gakpo’s reputation has only accelerated and it now looks very, very unlikely that he will end up at Leeds.

Gakpo has racked up 13 goals and 17 assists in just 24 games for PSV before then shining at the World Cup.

Sadly for Leeds, the 23-year-old now seems out of reach with PSV able to command much more money and Gakpo possibly having his sights set higher.

PSV refusing to sell was a gamble at the time having crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers but their boldness is paying off.

Former Dutch international Ronald de Boer has now spoken to Sky Sports about Gakpo and that failed move to Leeds.

De Boer suggests that PSV’s decision to turn down ‘a lot of money’ for Gakpo was seen as ‘bad management’ at the time and even resulted in director John de Jong losing his job.

De Boer now thinks De Jong will be wondering why he’s out of a job given that Gakpo is now worth up to €80million (£69million) and stands to make PSV even more money.

“It’s funny, before the season they could sell Gakpo to Leeds United for a lot of money, but PSV said ‘no, we’ll wait because we’re going to play in the Champions League’, and you thought ‘there goes the money’ – bad management basically,” said De Boer.

“They lost a lot of money and kicked out the technical director because of that; not only that but he’s out, John de Jong, and now he must think, sitting on his couch, ‘Gakpo is worth €80million now probably, why am I sitting at home’, because he did a great job but that’s how it goes,” he added.