Leeds United missed out on the signing of Brighton & Hove Albion’s Facundo Buonanotte to Chelsea.
Facundo Buonanotte is a long-term Leeds United target, dating back two years now. The Brighton playmaker can operate as a right-sided winger or an attacking midfielder.
We suggested Leeds sign Buonanotte again and revive a deal this summer. It was then exclusively revealed by Leeds United News Brighton’s stance on Buonanotte and that Leeds have ‘never left the table’ for his signature this summer.
Leeds then led the race for Buonanotte and it looked as though they would sign Buonanotte before the deadline, with a loan deal between Brighton and Leeds likely.
The fee Chelsea paid to land Facundo Buonanotte over Leeds
Another report claimed Brighton preferred a loan to England as well this summer. It was all set up for Leeds to seal the transfer ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Lyon, among others.
Graham Smyth confirmed Buonanotte’s Thursday flight was cancelled last night. Initially, it was not known why, but it quickly became clear that there was an issue with the deal.
Chelsea then hijacked the move for Buonanotte instead, with BlueCo also agreeing a straight loan deal for the season with the Seagulls.
Indirectly, Spurs also had a part to play in Buonanotte to Chelsea. However, one aspect in the deal was missed, which was revealed yesterday regarding Buonanotte’s loan fee.
BBC Sport journalist Nizaar Kinsella said: “Buonanotte’s loan move to Chelsea is now official. The Blues will pay a £2 million loan fee to Brighton.”
It’s not clear in the report if that was an issue for Leeds, but Chelsea have paid a large fee for a player who will not be high up Enzo Maresca’s pecking order.
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What exactly happened after Leeds failed to sign Buonanotte?
Smyth explained the situation for Leeds post-Buonanotte. They had to sign a forward with a touch of creativity and ideally someone who could operate as either an attacking midfielder or winger comfortably.
In four days of the deal for the Argentine falling through, the Whites failed to acquire such a profile. In spite of a late Leeds pursuit of Harry Wilson. That situation did not materialise into a transfer, either.
The Fulham, Leeds, and Wilson situation has been explained since but it doesn’t take away from the fact the 49ers and co. failed to bring in the requisite attacking quality this summer.
We suggested Ludovic Blas instead of Buonanotte, albeit it is not yet clear how many options they exhausted between Buonanotte falling through and Wilson failing to join on deadline.
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