Journalist says Leeds thought they could ‘easily’ sign 22-year-old, but now the move is dead

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Speaking on his podcast, Phil Hay has been discussing Eddie Nketiah and Leeds’ interest in the striker.

Nketiah is, of course, a player that the Whites know very well from his loan spell at Elland Road, and with his Arsenal contract coming to an end, Leeds had a look at bringing him back to West Yorkshire.

According to Hay, the Whites believed that this deal would be an easy one to conclude, but now, the deal is dead as the Englishman looks set to sign a new contract at the Emirates.

What’s been said?

Hay spoke about Leeds and Nketiah.

“They really liked Eddie Nketiah and they would have made a play to do that one had he not decided to take up a new contract at Arsenal. It has been strange with Nketiah down there, there have been periods where it’s looked inevitable that he would leave, but suddenly it looks like he will sign on again, so that’s died a death,” Hay said.

“He would have been out of contract, he’s under 24, so there would have been money involved, but I think he was the sort of player they thought it could be done quite easily that one, and he would make a difference to the squad.”

Brilliant offer

We can’t blame Nketiah one bit for staying at Arsenal. After all, he’s reportedly set to earn £100,000-a-week.

That’s a massive amount of money for a player who isn’t even a regular starter, and, in all honesty, he would have been a fool to have turned down such a massive payday.

Would he have played more football at Leeds? Potentially, but sometimes in this game, money talks.

Nketiah may live to regret this decision from a sporting standpoint, but it’s much easier to swallow sitting on the bench when you’re earning massive money.