Angus Kinnear has shed some more light on Leeds United’s transfer window in a new interview with the Square Ball.
Kinnear was in for his yearly appearance on the podcast following a difficult summer which has seen scepticism grow towards the 49ers‘ ownership.
Following failure to win promotion, Leeds saw three of their best players in Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all depart.
It was then not until the final week of the window in which Leeds really began replacing that trio, with four new signings arriving in Largie Ramazani, Manor Solomon, Ao Tanaka and Isaac Schmidt.
Despite those additions, though, many supporters came out of the feeling with a sense of underwhelm due to the failure to bring in a new number 10.
Kinnear claims Leeds tried to sign Aston Villa’s Emi Buendia
It wasn’t only the fanbase which were disappointed by Leeds not bringing in that final marquee signing, but also Daniel Farke.
During the latter stages of the window, Leeds were linked to the likes of Gustavo Hamer and Roland Sallai, though nothing came to fruition in the end.
And speaking on the Square Ball Podcast, Kinnear has thrown a new big name into the mix in Aston Villa’s £40 million signing from Norwich City Emi Buendia.
Buendia worked with Farke for a number of years at the Canaries but spent all of last season out injured, which is likely to be why Leeds may have thought he could be available.
However, according to Kinnear, Buendia was quick to make it clear he would not be dropping into the Championship this season.
He said: “I can talk specifically about two examples, two players we thought would fit the bill, would be significantly better than who we have currently, bear in mind we’re looking at replacing a £40m player, which is obviously going to be challenging at Championship level.
“Buendia was on our list and, very clearly from Aston Villa, wasn’t going to be released and the player didn’t want to come back down to Championship level. He felt he served his time at Championship level.”
- READ MORE: Daniel Farke shares ‘secret’ what no-one else knows about new Leeds United signing Ao Tanaka
Kinnear reveals reason for Leeds’ Gustavo Hamer failure
As mentioned, Leeds were also interested in signing Hamer from fellow promotion rivals Sheffield United.
Leeds saw two bids rejected for Hamer by the Blades and Kinnear has now shared exactly why that transfer never came to fruition.
He said: “Then Gustavo Hamer, who we’ve had an interest in before he went to Sheffield United. He was another player who we felt would have significantly improved the team.
“Now, the way that transfer worked is we all assumed there was no chance Sheffield United would sell their star player to a promotion rival, based on the prize and the size of of what promotion’s worth.
“So if they sell to Leeds United and we go up by one point and they don’t, they’ve cost themselves over £100m in TV revenue. However, we were given some light, and this is where the market works, through agents, through contacts, they might be open to an offer.
“Sheffield United are a difficult club to deal with at the moment because they’re in an ownership transition. So there’s no friendly face you can ring up and try and get a sense of whether the player’s for sale or not.
“So the only way to provoke the conversation was to make an offer and we made an offer, which we think was at a fair level and they came back very clearly and said he was not for sale in this window to anybody, and he certainly wouldn’t be on sale to Leeds United and there was no price that could pull him away.
“Once you get that kind of feedback, and you believe in that kind of feedback, then you have to move on. Very simply, Gustavo Hamer wasn’t available for Leeds United in this window.”
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
