‘Lengthy discussions’: Angus Kinnear says Leeds did try to sign £8m attacker this summer

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Leeds United had a decent transfer window in the end, but at times, it was incredibly frustrating.

Indeed, it seemed as though the Whites were missing out on target after target at one point, and according to Angus Kinnear, there was an £8m player that the west Yorkshire club did have lengthy discussions with.

Kinnear says that the Whites had talks with Joseph Paintsil at Genk, but, sadly, that didn’t happen in the end and Jaidon Anthony instead came in as the new winger for Leeds.

Paintsil talks happened

Kinnear spoke about trying to sign Paintsil.

“We had given up on him (Jaidon Anthony), and we had given up on a number of other targets, you know we had lengthy discussions with Paintsil at Genk, and that didn’t come to fruition either. That came together on the last day as we were swapping him for a player in Jaidon who wanted to be here and was excited about joining Leeds and being at the heart of something successful,” Kinnear said.

Aggressive

Leeds talked a lot about being aggressive in the transfer window this summer, and pursuing a player like Paintsil does show intent.

The winger was valued at over £8m heading into this summer, and he was one of the most highly-rated players in Belgium last season.

Of course, Leeds, ultimately couldn’t get this deal done, but this sign of ambition probably bodes well for the Whites’ future under the new ownership from the 49ers.

It will be interesting to see Leeds’ recruitment model going forwards under this ownership.