‘Crawl over broken glass’: Angus Kinnear shares what has shocked him most after Leeds’ relegation

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Angus Kinnear admits he has been left shocked at the extent to which players have gone to leave Leeds United this summer.

Kinnear was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Square Ball, where he claimed players have ‘crawled over broken glass’ to secure a move away from Elland Road.

The Whites were relegated from the Premier League in May and saw 12 of last season’s first team squad move on during the window, eight of which were on loan.

Several of Leeds’ players had loan clauses inserted into their contracts that became active once relegation was confirmed after receiving wage cuts of between 40 and 60 per cent.

It became clear very quickly that the majority of the squad were not prepared to stick around and get Leeds back into the Premier League, with Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams even threatening legal action against the club.

Kinnear shares what has shocked him after Leeds’ relegation

The likes of Robin Koch, Brenden Aaronson and more could also not escape quick enough as they searched for a route back to one of Europe’s top leagues.

Kinnear says he has been left shocked at just how strongly some players have felt about not wanting to play in the Championship and even labelled himself as ‘naïve’.

“When I’ve spoken to them, the vehemence that the players don’t want to play in the Championship has absolutely surprised me. I don’t think it’s a Leeds United thing. It’s a broader football thing. It’s about the profile of the Premier League. It’s about the money paid in the Premier League.

“What we’ve seen is that players have absolutely no desire to play in the Championship. We thought we could convince them that this was a great project, that playing in the Championship and tearing it up for a season would be good for their careers and wouldn’t harm their international careers.

“I’ve been naïve about it but it’s been brutally disappointing at how we’ve seen players crawl over broken glass to leave our club. We’ve had a bad year but I thought there’d be a bigger emotional bond; there’d be a desire to put right the bad seasons they had last year.”

While you cannot begrudge a player wanting to play at the highest level, at the same time there are ways to go about it and it would appear several have done so in the wrong way.

If what Kinnear is saying is true, there is simply no way any of the players who left on loan can be welcomed back in 12 months’ time, particularly if Leeds are back in the Premier League.