‘Impossible to say no’: Leeds linked star makes £13m move elsewhere; agent confirms PL interest

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Leeds United linked Lucas Martinez Quarta sealed a deadline day move to Fiorentina, with his agent admitting to FirenzeViola that a number of Premier League clubs missed out.

Before Marcelo Bielsa’s high-flying side snapped up Robin Koch and Diego Llorente, Martinez Quarta was the name on everybody’s lips in West Yorkshire.

The twice-capped Argentine had apparently caught Bielsa’s eye back home in Argentina and, according to Jeunes Footeaux, Leeds were willing to pay £11 million for a technically-gifted, ball-playing defender who models himself on Sergio Ramos.

But after Leeds instead paid nearly £40 million to sign a German and a Spanish international instead, Martinez Quarta is now hoping to follow in the gilded footsteps of Gabriel Batistuta in Fiorentina’s iconic purple shirt.

“We are really happy,” agent Gustavo Goni says of a deal that apparently set the Viola back around £13 million.

“Fiorentina wanted (Martinez Quarta) so much. So much determination and the expression of interest from a club so full of history can only fill us with pride.

“Celta Vigo, Villarreal, Real Betis, Premier League clubs and others in Serie A tried, but Fiorentina in Argentina are very much respected and loved. Everyone knows them due to Batistuta.

“It was impossible to say no.”

Leeds started their first top-flight season since 2003/04 with a pair of seven-goal thrillers against Liverpool and Fulham.

But the Championship champions appear to have shorn up their previously porous backline in recent weeks, keeping a clean sheet against Sheffield United before Liam Cooper, Robin Koch, Luke Ayling and co produced stand-out performances in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City.