Leeds United have signed Wilfried Gnonto – and managed to get a deal done for much, much less than the price Zurich initially demanded.
The Whites needed to bring in attackers all summer really, but their need was heightened around the deadline.
Rodrigo suffered a shoulder injury against Everton on Tuesday night and winger Daniel James was surprisingly allowed to leave for Fulham.
A move for Bamba Dieng fell through and Victor Orta had to quickly pivot to another target with Italian talent Gnonto arriving.
Leeds United have signed Wilfred Gnonto
Gnonto has been linked with Leeds for weeks now and it looked like Orta preferred other targets around the deadline.
Yet come 10 past midnight on Friday, Leeds had announced a new arrival with Gnonto joining from Zurich on a five-year deal until 2027.
Gnonto, 18, has emerged as a huge talent having previously been in the ranks with Italian giants Inter Milan.
The teenager has hit 12 goals and 10 assists in 74 games for Zurich, which is a huge amount of first-team football for a player of his age.
The really impressive part is that Gnonto already has four caps for Italy’s national team, bagging a goal and an assist in that time.
Gnonto is being backed for a huge future and Leeds have to feel that they have secured a pretty incredible bargain.
The Daily Mail claim that the fee involved for Gnonto is just £3.8million, which is pretty great for any Italian international.
Yet the report adds that Zurich initially demanded around £17million for Gnonto and ended up relenting just before the deadline.
That’s around £13million more than the price Leeds ended up paying, which – if true – is some pretty impressive negotiating from Orta.
We can imagine that there are some hefty clauses involved – add-ons and a sell-on clause are bound to be included in Gnonto’s move.
Gnonto will need to fulfil his huge potential in the Premier League, but on the face of it, Leeds have secured a very promising deal.
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