Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ONE RODRIGO NOT ENOUGH FOR LEEDS
Club record will be broken for second time in a week if £30M Argentine star De Paul arrives
LEEDS are prepared to break their transfer record for the second time in days to land Argentina midfielder Rodrigo De Paul from Udinese.
The Whites smashed their transfer record to pay Valencia £27million for Spain striker Rodrigo at the weekend and are willing to top that to land De Paul.
The 26-year-old is priced at around £30m by Udinese and Leeds are in talks with the Serie A club.
Boss Marcelo Bielsa wants more goals from midfield and director of football Victor Orta turned to De Paul, who has scored 24 in Serie A over four seasons, after being frustrated in their pursuit of Brentford’s Said Benrahma.
Leeds’ willingness to spend big again just days after their £40m double swoop for Rodrigo and Robin Koch is proof they intend to thrive rather than just survive on their return to the Premier League.
They signed Brazilian-born Rodrigo for £27m, rising to £36m with add-ons, before sealing Germany defender Koch’s arrival from Freiburg for £13m.
Owner and chairman Andrea Radrizzani often felt constricted by the EFL’S spending rules and has turned on the cash taps to strengthen Bielsa’s squad.
Orta claims they are prepared to spend big to become established in the top flight.
“We are ambitious to go along, building the team bit by bit,” he said.
“We are ambitious to put Leeds in a good place.
“We have shown what we want to be, a team that is humble, a team that has just come up and wants to become established in the Premier League, which is very important for us.”
After splashing out £65m already in this transfer window, Leeds are on course to spend more than £100m and they want at least one more signing in addition to De Paul.
They are willing to pay what it takes to land their targets and would have gone as high as £40million for Ben White, but Brighton refused to sell.
Leeds instead bought Koch and the centre-half says he is joining a football heavyweight.
Koch, 24, who is in
Germany’s squad for their
Nations
League games against
Spain and Switzerland, said: “Leeds is such a big club and after winning the second division last year, they are back. I’m happy to be in the
Premier League at such a big club.
“For the fans it is a dream and it is a dream for me also.
“The Premier
League is one of the biggest in the world. I played for three years in the
Bundesliga and this is the next step for me.”