When they swooped to capture Dutch striker Joel Piroe from Swansea City, Leeds United made their greatest splash of the summer transfer season.
When it came to the transfer of Joel Piroe, Swansea City and Leeds United ‘could not complete’. Last month, the Dutch striker moved from Leeds to West Yorkshire in a deal worth more than £10 million, becoming the summer’s marquee acquisition.
A contract dispute between Piroe and the Swans as the player neared the final year of his contract at the Liberty Stadium allowed Leeds to acquire one of the best and most productive strikers in the Championship in recent years.
Now that the summer transfer window has concluded, City sporting director Paul Watson has spoken out about the Piroe controversy and explained why keeping Piroe at the club was practically impossible after Leeds’ interest.
“I had a lot of conversations with Joel,” he said to Wales Online. Many players have been the subject of my chats. I’ve made it clear that I’ll do two things: I’ll be fair and I’ll be truthful.In the end, we wanted to attempt to keep Joel, but what he and his representatives sought wasn’t compatible with the football club’s structure.
“We believed the ripple effect would prevent us from destroying that structure. Along with that, an offer was received. We had an internal valuation, and in some contingents, it was surpassed.
“When you are getting a return on an investment, he indicated he wasn’t going to sign a new contract and you can’t compete with a club who have parachute payments, that all came to a point where you say what do we do, we get the absolute best for the football club. “We can get something we can then reinvest and strengthen as we go.”
