“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leeds United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.72 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Jaka Bijol was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Leeds United have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Huddersfield Town will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Leeds United were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Add another name to the list: Villarreal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The answer from Leeds United has not changed — yet.
Wilfried Gnonto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 9.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Leeds United will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leeds United can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brenden Aaronson and Leeds United agree another 4 years.
Jaka Bijol was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of Daniel James has come up in conversations Leeds United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.