Yeboah chose Leeds over Bayern Munich ‘for more money’

Oli Fisher
Yeboah: Almost a could-have-been for Leeds

Yeboah: Almost a could-have-been for Leeds

Tony Yeboah has admitted the reason he joined English club Leeds United was mostly financial, despite interest from a German giant.

Yeboah joined the Yorkshire club in 1995, and played 66 times for the club while they were at their height, scoring 32 goals.

He will be remembered for his reputation to pop up with remarkable goals, namely a volley against Liverpool and winning goal of the season for a strike against Wimbledon. The Ghanian famously stated Yorkshire puddings were responsible for his good form.

However, it could have all been so different for the 49-year-old, who was an established star at German club Eintracht Frankfurt, where he scored 68 goals in 123 appearances having joined from Saarbrücken in 1990.

He was the top Bundesliga scorer twice with Frankfurt, in 1993 and 1994. Many people say he paved the way for the future success of African players in the Bundesliga, such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Samuel Kuffour and Souleyman Sané.

Unfortunately, In 1995, he and teammates Maurizio Gaudino and Okocha had a fall-out with coach Jupp Heynckes, which put an end to Yeboah’s five-year stint at the club.

With the Kumasi-born player heading for the exit door, Bayern Munich were rivalling the Whites for his signature, as he recalls.

“I was with my advisor Joachim Leukel in Munich,” he told German outlet Bild.

“Actually, at the beginning everything was going fine, but then they [Bayern] offered 200,000 German marks (£80k a year), so I signed for Leeds United.”

Yeboah went on to win Player of the Year for Leeds in his second season, becoming the first ever non-British player to do so.