Leeds United chief details Gus Hamer transfer chase after "encouragement from "difficult" Sheffield United
Leeds United chief opens up on Gus Hamer transfer saga after Sheffield United rejected approaches
Leeds United received some private encouragement to launch their audacious bid to sign Sheffield United star Gus Hamer this summer, chief executive Angus Kinnear has revealed, after detailing the situation which led to their offers being rejected. United’s Yorkshire rivals had already signed Jayden Bogle from Bramall Lane before turning their attentions to Hamer.
Leeds initially saw an offer of around £13m rejected, before a proposed swap deal involving Leeds man Joel Piroe was also dismissed out of hand. The window ended without Daniel Farke getting the No.10 player he had sought, despite Leeds bringing in well over £100m from transfer sales this summer, and Hamer remained at Bramall Lane.
Detailing his side’s bid to replace Georginio Rutter after his £40m move to Brighton, Kinnear said: “Two players that we thought would fit the bill and would be significantly better than than who we have currently. And bear in mind, we're looking at replacing the £40m player, which is obviously going to be challenging at Championship level.
“Emi Buendia was on our list, and very clearly from Aston Villa wasn't going to be released, and the player didn't want to come back down to Championship level. He felt he'd served his time at Championship level. And then Gustavo Hamer, who we've had an interest in before, before he went to Sheffield United, was another player who we felt would have significantly improve the team."
Speaking on The Square Ball podcast, Kinnear added: "The way that transfer worked is we all assumed that there was no chance that Sheffield United would sell their star player to a promotion rival based on the prize and the size of of what promotion is worth.
"So if they send them to Leeds United, and we go up by one point, they don't, they've cost themselves over £100m in TV revenue. However, we were given some light. And this is where the market works, through agents, through contacts, that they might be open to an offer.
"Sheffield United are a difficult club to deal with at the moment because they're in an ownership transition, so there's no one there, there's no friendly face you can ring up and try and get a sense of whether the player's for sale or not. So the only way to provoke the conversation was to make an offer, and we made an offer, which we think was at a fair level.
“And they came back very clearly and said he was not for sale in this window to anybody, and he certainly wouldn't be on sale to Leeds United. And there was no price that could pull him away. And once you get that kind of feedback, and you believe in that kind of feedback, then you have to move on. So, you know, very simply, Hamer wasn't available for Leeds United in this window."