Andrea Radrizzani says Leeds made late swap bid in January to sign £26m attacker

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Andrea Radrizzani has told DAZN – as per TuttoMercatoWeb – that Leeds United actually tabled a late swap deal to sign Roma attacker Nicolo Zaniolo towards the end of the January window. Roma had no space to sanction a move.

Jose Mourinho’s side had already brought in Diego Llorente on loan from Leeds, taking a non-EU space. So, Roma had no more space. The only way Roma were able to get Zaniolo out of the door was a permanent sale for the Italy star.

Zaniolo had impressed at Roma. He had a hand in 42 goals in 128 games, scoring the all-important goal that saw Roma win their first-ever European trophy – beating Feyenoord in the Conference League last term. Leeds were keen.

As were a number of other Premier League clubs. Bournemouth, mostly – but he rejected that move. So, Zaniolo stayed at Roma – at least, for a few days after Leeds made a bid. Then, our bitter rivals Galatasaray came calling for him.

Turkey’s transfer window ends a few days after the Premier League’s. So, he joined Galatasaray on a deal until the summer of 2027 – for a fee that could reach £26m. Radrizzani says Leeds made a late deal involving a Leeds player.

“We proposed a last-minute swap with one of our team but it wasn’t possible because Roma didn’t have any non-EU posts,” Radrizzani said in an interview that was quoted by TMW. It is unclear which Leeds player was included in a deal.

Andrea Radrizzani: Leeds tabled late swap deal to sign Nicolo Zaniolo

Zaniolo would have been a wonderful signing. But realistically, Leeds have little room for him. Of course, if Jack Harrison had gone to Leicester, then bringing in Zaniolo as his replacement would have made more sense.

But Leeds chose to keep Harrison on deadline day despite the uncapped English winger actually travelling south to undergo a medical with the Foxes. Zaniolo is a good player that would have improved us, but hardly a priority.