IT’S RODS ON FOR RECORD
£30m De Paul next up in Ell of a spending spree
■ £16m
HELDER COSTA
rising to £18m
ILLAN MESLIER
JOE GELHARDT
rising to £2.5m
CODY DRAMEH
£350,000 rising to £1m
CHARLIE ALLEN
£300,000
SAM GREENWOOD
£1.5m rising to £3m
RODRIGO £27m rising to £36m
ROBIN KOCH
Total spending so far rising to
£5.8m £1m £13m
LEEDS are ready to break their transfer record for the second time in days to land Argentina midfielder Rodrigo De Paul.
The Whites smashed their record to pay Valencia £27m for Spain striker Rodrigo
(inset above) at the weekend and are willing to top that fee to land De Paul, 26. He is priced at around £30m by Udinese and the Ellland Road outfit are in talks with the Serie A club. Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa wants more goals from midfield and director of football Victor Orta has turned to De Paul, who has netted 24 Serie A goals in four seasons, after being frustrated in his pursuit of Brentford’s Said Benrahma. Leeds’ willingness to spend big on De Paul days after their double swoop for Rodrigo and Robin Koch is proof that they intend to thrive rather than just survive on their return to the Premier League.
Rodrigo’s fee could rise to £36m with addons and they also snapped up Germany centre-back Koch from Freiburg for £13m. Owner and chairman Andrea Radrizzani often felt constricted by the EFL’S spending rules and he has now turned on the financial taps to strengthen Bielsa’s squad.
Transfer guru Orta claims they are prepared to spend big in a bid to become an established Premier League side.
“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 already splashing out £65m 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 they would have gone as high as £40m for Ben White, but Brighton refused to sell the central defender.
Leeds instead bought Koch, 24, who reckons he is joining a footballing heavyweight.
Koch, who is part of Joachim Low’s squad for Germany’s Nations League games against Spain and Switzerland, said: “Leeds is such a big club and after winning the second division last year, Leeds are back.
“I’m happy to be here in the Premier League at such a big club. For the fans here it is a dream to be back in the Premier League and it’s a dream for me also.
“I’ve played three years in the Bundesliga, which is also a big league, and the Premier League is the next step for me.”