One of Leeds United’s top transfer targets has just been dropped by his agent as a result of his behaviour behind-the-scenes.
Despite being a Championship club, Leeds quite clearly still have the pull not many others do at this level, as shown the return of Joe Rodon earlier in the summer, who rejected Premier League interest.
Rodon’s £10 million move back to Elland Road was Leeds’ first signing of the window and given what has happened in the period since then, it feels like an eternity ago.
Leeds have lost key players such as Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter and Glen Kamara, before then going 32 days without a signing after Jayden Bogle became the fourth arrival of the summer.
However, Largie Ramazani’s move from UD Almeria on Thursday is expected to be the start of a busy end to the window, with three more signings wanted.
Leeds target Dejan Ljubicic endures behind-the-scenes struggle
A new attack-minded number eight is one of the three positions Leeds are looking to strengthen, though links have been fairly sparse.
Manchester United’s Hannibal Mejbri has emerged as an option in recent days, but FC Koln’s Dejan Ljubicic is who Leeds have had the most concrete interest in.
Leeds saw a £3.3 million offer rejected by FC Koln back in July and though no second bid has been submitted, Ljubicic has been pushing for the move behind-the-scenes.
However, Bild‘s latest update on the situation is not good news for the ‘special‘ Ljubicic with it now confirmed his ‘dream’ move to Leeds is now off.
To make matters worse, as a result of Ljubicic‘s push behind-the-scenes for a move to Leeds, the midfielder has now been dropped by his agent Volker Struth, who is reportedly Germany’s most prominent football agent.
In fact, this is actually the fifth time in 18 months Ljubicic has now changed his representatives, as he has become ”increasingly difficult’ to work with.
Leeds dodge bullet with Ljubicic
As per the same report, this is not the first time Ljubicic has tried to force an exit from FC Koln, having done the same last summer with Wolfsburg.
Ljubicic, despite being represented by Dirk Hebel, is said to have used an external Croatian agent in order to do so, which clearly did not work.
With all that in mind, it appears as though Leeds have dodged a bullet deciding not to push ahead with a move if this is how he behaves.
Leeds know all too well from last summer how difficult it can be when players force through transfers, and so they could really do without bringing in someone like Ljubicic.
Who knows, if Ljubicic had joined Leeds, had a good individual season, but failed to get promoted, he may well have tried to do the same in 12 months’ time.
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