Transfer frustration builds for boss Mac
YEP 10/8/13
by Phil Hay
Leeds United have reached an impasse with their elusive fourth summer signing after being told that the target’s current club are no longer willing to sell him.
A defiant pursuit by Brian McDermott looks destined to end in failure, despite United’s manager claiming that the unnamed player is himself pushing for a transfer to Elland Road.
McDermott, who has been working on the deal since the earliest stages of pre-season, said discussions were “proving to be difficult” amid a sudden reluctance to accept a bid on the part of the player’s club.
The Leeds boss is yet to abandon his approach, saying he had “not given up completely”, but he appears ready to move on after more than five weeks of patient negotiating. His ability to force through a quick move was restricted by United’s insistence that he remove players from the wage bill at Elland Road before completing further signings.
McDermott said: “It’s proving to be difficult that deal. At some point one has to move on. It’s been going on for quite a long time now. But I haven’t moved on yet, not completely.
“In this particular situation it’s a club-to-club issue. The club doesn’t want to sell the player and we were in a position where we thought they would. The club are now saying they won’t.
“The player’s agent thought there was a situation where the player would be sold but that’s not proving to be the case. The club don’t want to do the deal.”
McDermott has never given any clue to the identity or position of his proposed signing – a target he first spoke of after Leeds’ pre-season win at Farsley on July 6 – but he gave strong hints during United’s summer tour of Slovenia that the player in question would be his next captain.
Leeds are known to have made an enquiry for Matt Mills, the Bolton Wanderers centre-back who was Reading’s captain during McDermott’s time as manager.
Bolton invested heavily in Mills last summer, paying him £25,000 a week to conclude a move from Leicester, but the 27-year-old’s peripheral role during his first season at the Reebok Stadium appeared to leave him surplus to requirements. Bolton manager Dougie Freedman, however, has spoken increasingly highly of Mills, claiming he would retain the defender unless Mills specifically asked to leave.
United were also credited with an interest in Brighton’s Gordon Greer, another centre-back who played against Leeds at Elland Road last weekend. The Scotland international is likely to be a first-team regular at The Amex this season and is not being made available for transfer.
Asked if he believed his target hoped to move to Elland Road, McDermott said: “Yes. It’s a difficult situation when you think the player wants to come.
“But sometimes that’s how it is. Clubs have got their own ideas and they’ve got to look after themselves. Rightly so. All clubs have got to do business the way they think is right and proper for them.”
McDermott has not added a new signing to his squad since July 3 when Noel Hunt became his third acquisition on a free transfer from Reading.
He admitted last month that United’s board, dominated by employees of majority shareholder GFH Capital, had asked him to move players on before recruiting any more but his latest remarks – claiming that a rival club were obstructing a deal which Leeds aimed to complete – suggested a possible easing of the financial restrictions at Elland Road.
McDermott, who has highlighted a new central defender as a major priority before the end of the transfer window, revealed yesterday that he was preparing for talks about the signing of a different target. “There’s one who we’re hoping to have discussions with in the next couple of days,” he said.
The Leeds boss added that he had received no further bids for striker Ross McCormack following unsuccessful offers from Blackpool and Middlesbrough in the past fortnight. McDermott spoke with the Scotland forward in the aftermath of the approaches and said: “We put it to bed between us. It’s a non-story as far as I’m concerned.”
With few developments in the transfer market, Leeds travel to Leicester for the second game of the Championship season tomorrow with their squad largely unchanged. Rodolph Austin is available again after a three-match ban and El-Hadji Diouf could take a seat on the bench having demonstrated his improved fitness in a friendly against Burnley on Wednesday afternoon.
Perhaps because of the problems sounding his intended new signing, McDermott is still to confirm the identity of Leeds’ club captain for this term, though his failure to clarify the position of current incumbent Lee Peltier points strongly towards a permanent change.
Peltier captained Leeds against Brighton last weekend and passed the armband to Paul Green during Wednesday’s Capital One Cup tie against Chesterfield in which the right-back was rested. Austin’s return from suspension gives McDermott another viable candidate to turn to.
The Leeds boss was reticent about his choice, saying: “That decision will be made. I know what I want to do. It’s an important decision and it would be disrespectful to say that it isn’t. If you’re captain of Leeds United then that does hold a certain status.
“I made a decision at Reading to make Jobi McAnuff captain. At the time that was seen as different because Jobi’s a winger. But I knew what he offered in the dressing room. Different players offer different things and they captain in a different way.
“Jobi always led by example even if he wasn’t having a great day. It’s important to know what you’re going to get from your captain. I remember Tony Adams at Arsenal. He never looked like he had a bad game because his body language was so good.
“You see different characteristics in different people. I don’t have a specific reason for choosing my captain or a specific position. Left-winger was captain for Reading when we won the Championship. It doesn’t have to be a centre-half or a central midfielder. It could be anybody.”
by Phil Hay
Leeds United have reached an impasse with their elusive fourth summer signing after being told that the target’s current club are no longer willing to sell him.
A defiant pursuit by Brian McDermott looks destined to end in failure, despite United’s manager claiming that the unnamed player is himself pushing for a transfer to Elland Road.
McDermott, who has been working on the deal since the earliest stages of pre-season, said discussions were “proving to be difficult” amid a sudden reluctance to accept a bid on the part of the player’s club.
The Leeds boss is yet to abandon his approach, saying he had “not given up completely”, but he appears ready to move on after more than five weeks of patient negotiating. His ability to force through a quick move was restricted by United’s insistence that he remove players from the wage bill at Elland Road before completing further signings.
McDermott said: “It’s proving to be difficult that deal. At some point one has to move on. It’s been going on for quite a long time now. But I haven’t moved on yet, not completely.
“In this particular situation it’s a club-to-club issue. The club doesn’t want to sell the player and we were in a position where we thought they would. The club are now saying they won’t.
“The player’s agent thought there was a situation where the player would be sold but that’s not proving to be the case. The club don’t want to do the deal.”
McDermott has never given any clue to the identity or position of his proposed signing – a target he first spoke of after Leeds’ pre-season win at Farsley on July 6 – but he gave strong hints during United’s summer tour of Slovenia that the player in question would be his next captain.
Leeds are known to have made an enquiry for Matt Mills, the Bolton Wanderers centre-back who was Reading’s captain during McDermott’s time as manager.
Bolton invested heavily in Mills last summer, paying him £25,000 a week to conclude a move from Leicester, but the 27-year-old’s peripheral role during his first season at the Reebok Stadium appeared to leave him surplus to requirements. Bolton manager Dougie Freedman, however, has spoken increasingly highly of Mills, claiming he would retain the defender unless Mills specifically asked to leave.
United were also credited with an interest in Brighton’s Gordon Greer, another centre-back who played against Leeds at Elland Road last weekend. The Scotland international is likely to be a first-team regular at The Amex this season and is not being made available for transfer.
Asked if he believed his target hoped to move to Elland Road, McDermott said: “Yes. It’s a difficult situation when you think the player wants to come.
“But sometimes that’s how it is. Clubs have got their own ideas and they’ve got to look after themselves. Rightly so. All clubs have got to do business the way they think is right and proper for them.”
McDermott has not added a new signing to his squad since July 3 when Noel Hunt became his third acquisition on a free transfer from Reading.
He admitted last month that United’s board, dominated by employees of majority shareholder GFH Capital, had asked him to move players on before recruiting any more but his latest remarks – claiming that a rival club were obstructing a deal which Leeds aimed to complete – suggested a possible easing of the financial restrictions at Elland Road.
McDermott, who has highlighted a new central defender as a major priority before the end of the transfer window, revealed yesterday that he was preparing for talks about the signing of a different target. “There’s one who we’re hoping to have discussions with in the next couple of days,” he said.
The Leeds boss added that he had received no further bids for striker Ross McCormack following unsuccessful offers from Blackpool and Middlesbrough in the past fortnight. McDermott spoke with the Scotland forward in the aftermath of the approaches and said: “We put it to bed between us. It’s a non-story as far as I’m concerned.”
With few developments in the transfer market, Leeds travel to Leicester for the second game of the Championship season tomorrow with their squad largely unchanged. Rodolph Austin is available again after a three-match ban and El-Hadji Diouf could take a seat on the bench having demonstrated his improved fitness in a friendly against Burnley on Wednesday afternoon.
Perhaps because of the problems sounding his intended new signing, McDermott is still to confirm the identity of Leeds’ club captain for this term, though his failure to clarify the position of current incumbent Lee Peltier points strongly towards a permanent change.
Peltier captained Leeds against Brighton last weekend and passed the armband to Paul Green during Wednesday’s Capital One Cup tie against Chesterfield in which the right-back was rested. Austin’s return from suspension gives McDermott another viable candidate to turn to.
The Leeds boss was reticent about his choice, saying: “That decision will be made. I know what I want to do. It’s an important decision and it would be disrespectful to say that it isn’t. If you’re captain of Leeds United then that does hold a certain status.
“I made a decision at Reading to make Jobi McAnuff captain. At the time that was seen as different because Jobi’s a winger. But I knew what he offered in the dressing room. Different players offer different things and they captain in a different way.
“Jobi always led by example even if he wasn’t having a great day. It’s important to know what you’re going to get from your captain. I remember Tony Adams at Arsenal. He never looked like he had a bad game because his body language was so good.
“You see different characteristics in different people. I don’t have a specific reason for choosing my captain or a specific position. Left-winger was captain for Reading when we won the Championship. It doesn’t have to be a centre-half or a central midfielder. It could be anybody.”