"Never happening" – Phil Hay says rumoured 2018 signing Leeds needed was never on the cards

Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has had a Twitter exchange with Leeds United fans after Marcelo Bielsa said he believes poor finishing has cost his side 10 points this season, and revealed that a move for reported summer target Phil Foden was “never happening”.

James was doable. Foden was never happening.

— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) March 29, 2019

What’s the word, then?

Well, when Bielsa arrived at Elland Road in 2018 the Yorkshire outfit were quickly linked with a number of different players, with City Watch reporting at the time that they were keen on a loan move for City youngster Foden.

The link was of little surprise – and perhaps an easy one to make – given the Argentine and Pep Guardiola are well known to have a good relationship with each other.

Leeds still remain well in the automatic promotion hunt but after Bielsa’s latest comments about a lack of clinical finishing from his team, one supporter on Twitter suggested the Whites should have got deals for the likes of Foden and Dan James across the line.

Never happening

Hay was quick to respond to the comments on Twitter, saying any potential move for the former was never on the cards.

While the talented 18-year-old perhaps won’t have featured for the champions as much as he would have liked with his Premier League game time in particular limited, it always seemed apparent that Guardiola thought that the teenager had a role to play this term.

Was he needed

He certainly was.

While Leeds have generally done well in front of goal this season, there have been times when they’ve been missing that piece of magic needed in the final third, such as their 1-0 defeat against Sheffield United prior to the international break.

Foden has the ability to unlock defences, and they would have been even better off in the table had they managed to pull off a deal for him.

from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/2uAY5Yn