£17.5m defender says he had ‘very, very good offer’ from Leeds in summer

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Josko Gvardiol has told Croatian website Index that he had a “very, very good offer” from Leeds United in the summer but chose to join RB Leipzig as they allowed him to return to Dinamo Zagreb for the 2020-21 campaign.

Gvardiol, 18, joined Leipzig for £17.5million (Goal) in the summer after being heavily linked with a move to Leeds – who instead decided to sign Spain international Diego Llorente from Real Sociedad. He has remained with Zagreb this term.

The Croatia Under-21 international has played 16 times this season and there are rumous that Leipzig could cancel his loan in and boost Julian Nagelsmann’s side – after they qualified for the Champions League knockout stages.

Gvardiol spoke about his move to Leipzig in the summer and stated that he received an offer from Leeds – but chose to join Leipzig as they allowed him to stay with Zagreb, and that Leipzig’s progression for young players is excellent.

“Leeds’ offer was also very, very good, but it was decided that Leipzig was a better option for the development of young players. An agreement was also reached that they could stay at Dinamo, so everything turned out great,” Gvardiol said.

TBR’s view – Leeds could have done little more to nab Gvardiol

Given the centre-back wanted to stay at Zagreb, there is no chance Leeds could have paid that much money on a player and allowed him to rejoin his former side on loan. Following promotion, Leeds needed players to make an immediate impact.

Leipzig is a great move for Gvardiol and the allowance to let him stay at Zagreb for another season is a move that suits all involved. Leeds did the right thing, instead signing Llorente – but have suffered bad luck with the Spaniard since.