‘I wish’ – Jesse Marsch laments Leeds United transfer window exit as he reveals reason behind it - YEP 3/9/22
Jesse Marsch has lamented the loss of Daniel James to a season-long loan at Fulham but says it was necessary in order to bring in youngster Willy Gnonto.
By Graham Smyth
Marsch made the revelation after a 5-2 loss at Brentford,
the first game since a wild transfer deadline day at Elland Road. The Whites
looked set to buy Cody Gakpo from PSV and had a deal in place before a change
of heart from the Dutch side and their star winger.
Victor Orta then lined up Marseille forward Bamba Dieng and
the 22-year-old Senegalese international was due to get on a private jet to fly
to Leeds when he too changed course, opting instead to move to Nice. In the end
he stayed put however, due to a failed medical.
The deadline actually passed without news of any movement in
or out at Leeds, but they did later confirm the departure of James to Craven
Cottage and the arrival of 18-year-old Italy international Gnonto, from Zurich.
Marsch says the reason James left was so that Leeds could
find ‘flexibility’ to recruit another forward.
“It was clear that if we needed to add something that we needed
to move something,” he said.
"I hate speaking about it that way because I love Dan
James, he's an incredible person and he gives everything to the group always.
But when we were trying to think about how to get the balance right in the
team, he was garnering the most interest and it was the only way we could
create flexibility to try and go out and add a striker in a position we felt we
needed.”
It was not a move that Marsch relished, because it was
difficult on the player and his family, but he hopes the Welsh winger has a
fine season at Fulham and stars for his country at the upcoming World Cup.
“I wish we wouldn't have had to do it,” he said.
"Even the way it went down, it was tough for Dan. We
discussed it weeks before the transfer deadline about the possibility and we
had a lot of open conversations with Dan,[but] in the end it was tough for Dan.
I know he likes it here and his family like it here.
"I wish him luck and I really like him and I hope he
has a good season, a good World Cup and hopefully then we’ll see him again next
summer.”
As for Gnonto, whose arrival capped a deadline day full of
drama, Marsch said the club took the decision to bring forward a transfer that
was planned for either January or next summer, because other options had been
taken off the table unexpectedly.
"I think I told you guys that we kinda had A, B and C
options in a lot of different ways,” he said.
"We were sorting through how to get things done and
trying to evaluate how to make moves. It was a very crazy last 48 hours, we had
a plan and certain things got pulled out from under us based on decisions from
agents and players and clubs that we didn’t anticipate. We thought we were on
the same page with certain things and it turned out we weren't and then in the
end we had been following Willy Gnonto’s progress for some time.
"We were thinking that we'd leave him in Zurich with
the idea that maybe we'd bring him in, in a transfer window or maybe two, to
just give him time to continue to develop where he was at. But then we felt we
needed to accelerate that decision based on what the window was panning out to
be.”
Although he acknowledges that there has been criticism aimed
at Leeds for the way the window ended, Marsch reiterated that he likes the
squad and believes it was a good market for Leeds.
“I've heard that there's been some criticism, but I think
actually, we're very happy with our transfer window,” he said.
"I think we've made some really good additions and
we're going to continue to get stronger as a team.”
