Swansea City tried to keep hold of Joel Piroe but were unable to “compete” with Leeds United, whose offer “exceeded” their internal valuation in some areas, according to Paul Watson.
The Swans’ sporting director told Wales Online (September 9) that the new Elland Road striker has told them he will not sign a new contract and that once the Whites arrive with the benefit of a payout parachute team, they had to sell.
The Dutchman, 24, made headlines during the Daniel Farke transfer window after signing for an initial fee of £10.
5m, which could rise to £16m [The Athletic, May 25 8].
Watson said:
“I talked a lot with Joel.
I talked to a lot of players.
I said I would do two things: I would be fair and I would be honest.
“Ultimately, we want to try to keep Joël, but what he wants and what his agent wants is not within the structure of the football club.
“We felt like we couldn’t break that structure because of the consequences.
This is linked to an offer that has been received.
We conducted an internal review that was met and exceeded in certain cases.
“When you get a return on investment, he indicates that he won’t sign a new contract and you can’t compete with a club that has parachute payments, it all gets to the point where you say We What should I do, we bring the best to the football club.
“We can get something that we can then reinvest and strengthen over time.»
Leeds United needed a striker this summer, just like last year, but this time they went out and got a proven option by paying what was necessary.
Piroe’s opening goal in the win over Ipswich suggested he would maintain his excellent record for South Wales in West Yorkshire, but an anonymous second outing in a goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday showed Farke still has some work to do to properly prepare your team.
New scorer.
Although Leeds did park up some notable cash at the end of the period and find themselves with a large negative net spend this year, they weren’t the big fish to begin with armed with parachute payouts.
some fans were hopeful after relegation.
A long list of players loaned out for next to nothing thanks to a relegation release clause has limited the spending power of the 49ers’ new owners through rules on profitability and sustainability most of the time.
Tyler Adams’ controversial £20m-plus transfer to Bournemouth finally appears to have helped them exit the transfer market in recent weeks, with Piroe followed by Rangers’ Glen Kamara, Werder’s Ilia Gruev Bremen and the fee for Djed Spence from Tottenham is paid..
Credit goes to the hierarchy for coming out of the summer with a squad that looks good on paper, even if some of them were complicit in getting the club into this situation in the first place.
Landing Piroe will no doubt reassure a fan base accustomed to pinning their hopes on Patrick Bamford’s injury record, but unless Farke can get it all going on a regular basis, there will be little mean.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has heard that “there could be problems again” when it comes to releasing clauses next summer with a star.