Leeds United signed Sonny Perkins but find themselves in a stand-off with West Ham United over the compensation fee involved.
The Whites love to sign young players and have placed a focus on that side of recruitment since Victor Orta arrived in 2017.
On Wednesday night, we saw Leeds unleash a number of young talents in their Carabao Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Leeds may have lost 1-0 but seeing the likes of Leo Hjelde, Darko Gyabi and Mateo Joseph in action will have been exciting for Whites fans.
Leeds United signed Sonny Perkins
Sonny Perkins was also involved from the start as Jesse Marsch utilised him as an attacking midfielder.
Perkins, 18, caught the eye and will leave Leeds feeling like they have signed a real gem.
The teenager was emerging with West Ham and even featured in David Moyes’ first team last season.
Yet with Perkins coming out of contract at the end of the season, he made the bold decision to ditch West Ham and move to Leeds.
West Ham were gutted, even angry about Perkins leaving the club for a Premier League rival.
Perkins hasn’t yet featured in the Premier League for Leeds, so some at the London Stadium may feel that the youngster has taken a step back.
Leeds have high hopes for Perkins though and he has racked up seven goals in nine Premier League 2 games this season.
There are problems though as The Athletic report that relations between Leeds and West Ham have been ‘delicate at best’ since the teenager’s move.
A compensation fee for Perkins still hasn’t been agreed and the clubs seem to be at odds over a couple of things.
West Ham believe that Leeds were ‘underhand’ during their move to sign Perkins and seemingly believe they didn’t act with respect.
Then there is the issue that West Ham value Perkins at more than £750,000 in compensation, a fee that Leeds do not agree with at all.
It now looks like the deal will go to a tribunal with Leeds arguing that Perkins can’t be worth all that much given his low wages and lack of playing time at West Ham.
This situation looks like it will rumble on for a while and we can’t imagine many other deals between Leeds and West Ham being struck any time soon.
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