Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear has revealed that one player the Whites had on their transfer shortlist was ‘very clearly’ not going to be available.
After selling Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville to Brighton and West Ham respectively, Leeds had an even greater need of an attacker.
They put Aston Villa playmaker Emi Buendia on their shortlist and wanted to explore the idea of signing him.
However, Kinnear revealed that it soon became clear that Aston Villa were not going to let Buendia leave.
Even the player was not keen on moving down to the second tier, Kinnear said, and that ended Leeds’ pursuit of the 27-year-old.
“Emi Buendia was on our list, and very clearly from Aston Villa wasn’t going to be released”, Kinnear said on The Square Ball podcast.
“And the player didn’t want to come back down to Championship level.
“He felt he’d served his time at Championship level.”
Leeds then went all-out for Sheffield United star Gustavo Hamer, even going on to propose a swap deal involving Joel Piroe.
However, the Owls stood firm, refusing to sell the player to their direct promotion rivals.
