The summer of 2023 saw Leeds United try to offload as many players as possible following relegation in order to cope with the loss of finances that a drop in division brings.
Victor Orta’s loan clause saw Leeds fail to sell as many as they would have liked. Eight players left Elland Road on loan with Leeds unable to do anything about it, but The Whites did manage to make some sales.
Marc Roca joined Betis, Diego Llorente and Rasmus Kristensen to Roma. Brenden Aaronson, Max Wober and Robin Koch went to Germany, while Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra returned to the Premier League.
Leeds did manage to sell Tyler Adams, though. The USA skipper had been sidelined with a hamstring issue for the second half of 2022-23, but Bournemouth chose to spend the necessary cash to sign Adams.
Mauricio Pochettino says he tried to sign Tyler Adams for Chelsea
Adams has since struggled to have any kind of impact at Bournemouth due to injury. Overcoming the hamstring issue has been followed by a back problem, limiting Adams to just seven senior appearances.
But the USA skipper is fit again and started for Bournemouth on Saturday in a 3-2 loss to Brentford, with Adams lasting 67 minutes. But it was too soon for USA’s squad, with Adams forced to watch on from afar.
The now-USA manager told GOAL he tried to sign him at Chelsea: “We know very well we need to look after him [Adams]. I know very well him because I think it’s public that we wanted to sign him in Chelsea.
“When we arrived in Chelsea, I remember that in Chicago, we had a conversation. The club didn’t sign him because he was injured. “We know, we need to provide the good platform for him to get [to] his best.”
How close did Chelsea come to signing Tyler Adams from Leeds
It was very close. Chelsea activated the £20m clause in Adams’ contract at Elland Road, and he was due to have a medical. Clearly, judging by Pochettino’s comments, that medical went ahead but he was injured.
Chelsea chose not to take the risk while Bournemouth did. It has proved to be the wrong move so far, but Adams will be hopeful he can turn it around at the Vitality Stadium now he is back on the grass.
Meanwhile, USA are in action against Steve McClaren’s Jamaica twice over the international break with Brenden Aaronso and Weston McKennie in action. Pochettino will be hoping to build on his first win.
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