Heck of a way for Leeds to sack Paul
Ney hey! Brazil get a Worldie
LEEDS UNITED waited until June 1 to sack manager Paul Heckingbottom – and save themselves £500,000.
The trigger-happy Championship club, who have axed nine managers in four years, axed former Barnsley boss Heckingbottom after just 16 games in charge.
A clause inserted in the Yorkshireman’s contract enabled Heckingbottom to a £1million payoff if he was dismissed before the beginning of June.
After that his compensation would be halved to £500,000 – the amount he will now receive as Leeds look to appoint former Argentina and Chile boss Marcelo Bielsa.
Heckingbottom went on holiday telling friends he was a dead man walking and was expecting the bullet once June arrived.
And just hours into the new month the news arrived that he had become the latest casualty of the relentless drive to return the famous club to the Premier League – but with his pay-off drastically reduced. NEYMAR hopes to give Brazil a huge World Cup lift when he returns from injury today.
The forward has been out for three months after breaking a metatarsal and spraining his ankle playing for Paris Saintgermain.
But he will make a secondhalf appearance in Brazil’s friendly today against Croatia at Anfield.
“He’s on the bench because he is still recovering,” Brazil coach Tite said.
“He will come on at half-time. Who he replaces, I don’t know but that is the idea.”
Tite said Neymar, who became the world’s most expensive footballer when he signed from Barcelona for £198million must be “a protagonist” for his country but added that the others players must also step up.
Brazil will start the game with Willian up front alongside Gabriel Jesus.