Leeds United chief reveals summer transfer window difficulty and addresses exit clause necessity — YEP 10/9/24
By Graham Smyth
Leeds United missed out on transfer targets this summer due
to competition from Premier League clubs and tried to do their business in
secret to avoid deals being hijacked, according to CEO Angus Kinnear.
Speaking to the latest meeting of the club’s Supporter
Advisory Board [SAB], which convened at Elland Road on August 15, the club’s
chief executive provided an update on the club’s summer transfer window. The
meeting took place a fortnight before the end of the window, but it came after
the sales of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter - all of
whom had exit clauses in their contracts which were activated by Premier League
clubs. Gray and Rutter were both sold for £40m sums to Tottenham Hotspur and
Brighton respectively, while Summerville’s move to West Ham United is believed
to have brought in around £28m.
Kinnear insisted at the meeting that owners 49ers
Enterprises remained fully committed to promotion to the Premier League and
their efforts to build a promotion-worthy squad had met difficulties this
summer in terms of top flight competition.
The minutes of the SAB, the club anticipated the loss of
Gray and Summerville and the exit clause in Rutter’s contract was a necessary
step to bring him to Elland Road in the first place. The minutes state: “AK
[Angus Kinnear] thanks everyone for attending. The club are where they expected
to be at this stage in the transfer window. Archie Gray and Crysencio
Summerville’s departures were to be expected. Aim now is for more additions
before the end of the window and no notable exits. “AK provides updates and
explains why release clauses are included in certain circumstances. Using
Georginio Rutter as an example, without a relegation clause he wouldn’t have
signed for the club at the time in January 2023. The club made every effort to
keep Georginio, but he wanted to play in the Premier League now. AK explains
that from a business point of view, no-one wants promotion more than the 49ers.
Investors have invested for Leeds to be a Premier League side.
“Club have missed out on targets this summer as no amount of
money can attract certain players because the Premier League’s pull is vast,
but this is the profile of player the club wants. AK says a lot of business now
under this ownership is intentionally kept away from the media to stop other
clubs from hijacking deals, hence the lack of rumours.”
Leeds’ pre-season trip to Germany was also on the agenda
after supporters were asked to stay away. Two games, against Hannover and
Schalke, were played behind closed doors and media coverage was embargoed so as
not to reveal the whereabouts of the venues. Although other English and British
clubs played games in front of fans in the country that hosted Euro 2024 this
summer, German police said that the issue was the safety certificates of the
grounds Leeds planned to play at. The club said during the summer that they had
attempted to reverse the authorities’ decision. Kinnear told the meeting that
by the time Leeds discovered that fans would not be able to attend it was too
late to switch to another destination.
The meetings state: “AK says that the tour was agreed to be
purely technical, as opposed to prioritising commercial aspects. However, the
club did not expect the matches to be played behind closed doors. By the time
the club knew the decision, it was not appropriate to change the destination of
the camp. AK says there is a trade-off between commercially led tours as
opposed to technically led tours. Club will work hard to ensure fans can attend
future tours.”