Leeds United missed out on signing Rodrigo De Paul – but it sounds like Victor Orta would still like to land the Atletico Madrid star.
The links to De Paul go back to the summer of 2020.
Various reports back in August of 2020 suggested that Leeds had opened talks to sign De Paul from Udinese.
That story seemed to rumble on for weeks but there was no deal done. Leeds spent their money on winger Raphinha instead.
Come early 2021, the rumours were back; claims in Italy suggested that Leeds were at the front of the queue for De Paul.
Unfortunately for Leeds, De Paul headed elsewhere as Diego Simeone swooped, luring him to Atletico Madrid.
Atletico paid £30million to get De Paul out of Udinese, which would have been a hefty price for Leeds to pay.
The 27-year-old has only managed two goals and two assists for Atletico, a major decline on his Udinese output.
De Paul has been in and out of the Atletico side but it often takes some time for new signings to really settle into Simeone’s somewhat infamous approach.
You may think that the Leeds rumours are surely over but new reports suggest it’s not quite done with yet.
Dean Jones has told Give Me Sport that Leeds director of football Victor Orta does love De Paul but a move this summer may not be possible.
Jones believes De Paul’s wages take Leeds out of any race for De Paul as they financially just can’t compete at the moment.
“Victor Orta loves him, but I just think he’s beyond their reach at the moment. I mean, financially, I’m not sure that they can go there at the moment,” said Jones.
“He’ll be linked with some massive clubs and be on big wages. So, while I’m sure they would love him, I would imagine he’s beyond their reach at this point,” he added.
This feels like a rumour that will keep coming up again and again, but if we had to make a guess, we would suggest that De Paul will never actually join Leeds.
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