Leeds United ‘Did Everything’ To Land Star They Missed Out On Insists Journalist | OneFootball

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Leeds United did everything to try and get a deal for Mykhailo Mudryk over the line and it was Chelsea‘s preference for business with Tottenham Hotspur that killed an Elland Road move, a journalist has claimed.

After serving a doping ban for over a year, the Ukrainian only became available recently and Chelsea started to look for a move where he could start to clock up game time once again.

Daniel Farke’s Leeds instantly showed an interest in signing Mudryk to boost their attacking options in the final third of the pitch and approached Chelsea with a loan offer.

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Chelsea knocked back the proposal, but Leeds continued talks to try to do a deal, with the player keen on making the switch to Elland Road.

No agreement was reached though and Tottenham soon stole in to scoop up Mudryk and take him to N17 on loan for the season and with an option to buy set at £75m.

Tottenham also did business with Chelsea on another front as the Blues sold defender Tosin Adarabioyo permanently to the London outfit.

Giving insight into Leeds United’s long-term pursuit of the 25-year-old, journalist Nizaar Kinsella insisted that for a long time the Whites thought that they were winning the race for the wide-man.

Kinsella suggested that the issue was not Mudryk, who was excited about joining Leeds, or the Whites, who did all they could, and instead it was simply a case of Chelsea preferring to do business with Tottenham

“Certainly, for a long time Leeds were winning the race, certainly in the mind of Mykhailo Mudryk anyway. He was super-excited about joining Leeds”, Kinsella told BBC West Yorkshire.

“It was a great platform for him. Leeds did everything.

“I don’t think that you will get anyone on Chelsea’s side either, but certainly not on Mudryk’s side, who thought Leeds weren’t doing everything, offering him a great spot in the squad, negotiating really hard with Chelsea, who were trying to make it a very expensive loan.”

Chelsea were, Kinsella insists, able to solve two issues by doing business with Tottenham, while Leeds were only offering to solve one problem.

“Leeds were doing everything within reason, without going overboard to try and get this deal done, but unfortunately I think Chelsea wanted to do business more with Tottenham.

“So, I don’t think it was actually that much Mudryk that didn’t want to go to Leeds. I think it was more Chelsea preferred Mudryk went to Tottenham.

“It is because Tottenham have signed two players from Chelsea; they have solves two problems – Chelsea had a very big squad going to the end of this window.

“They needed to find places for everyone and if Leeds had said ‘well take Tosin as well’, maybe Leeds would have had a stronger hand.

“But Leeds wanted who they wanted. They didn’t want to take an extra player they didn’t need on big wages.

“So, they just wanted Mudryk. Tottenham wanted two players and Chelsea thought that is the better deal and sort of pushed him that way a little bit.

“And Leeds ended up not getting their man.”

Leeds did not finish the window without signing another attacker though as they landed Jean-Matteo Bahoya on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt, with a conditional obligation to buy.