Refusal to trigger a contract extension at Leeds for Mirco Antenucci in 2015 has come back to haunt them.
Leeds United’s Mirco Antenucci shoots
Two year ago this month Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino made the controversial push against a contract extension for Mirco Antenucci.
The striker was Leeds’ top goalscorer before surprisingly falling out of favour – for it to emerge that Cellino did not want Antenucci to trigger an automatic one-year extension on his deal by reaching an agreed goal tally, ITV reported.
The Yorkshire Evening Post had reported Neil Redfearn was under a ‘boardroom instruction’ not to pick the player.
Antenucci was only on a two-year deal, and left on a free transfer when his contract expired last summer, a situation which would not have occurred had he been allowed to reach the 12 goal mark in 2014/15, falling two short.
He is now in prolific form for Italian side SPAL in Serie B, scoring a brace at the weekend, his 17th and 18th goals of the season.
16 of these have come in the league, and Antenucci now has seven goals in his last eight matches.
Leeds United’s Mirco Antenucci celebrates
Leeds could desperately do with having him available right now, having no competition for top scorer Chris Wood up front.
Cellino paid a seven figure fee to replace Antenucci with Marcus Antonsson, but the Swede has not been picked to start a league game since September.
Hanging onto Antenucci would have been a far shrewder move, and it all goes back to the failure to offer him an extension in 2015.
Instead his contract was allowed to wind down and after experiencing the chaos of five managers in two seasons and a lack of commitment on the club’s part towards him, it was no surprise he elected to walk away.
It is a decision which could be costly to Cellino in financial and sporting terms if Leeds miss out on the play-offs this season, with the side currently sitting in seventh place with three games to go.
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