Leeds United
Premier League • England
Leeds United transfer stance revealed as attacker pushes to leave and ideal next move emerges
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke, with caption: Exit looms
Leeds United have made clear the conditions in which they would allow Mateo Joseph to leave, sources have confirmed, with the star having made clear his desire to move away this summer and having failed to return to the first-team training.
The 21-year-old arrived at Leeds from Espanyol’s youth setup three years ago, breaking into the Whites’ first team in the 2022/23 campaign.
Joseph played his role in Leeds‘ Championship title win last season but struggled to find consistent form, notching three goals and four assists in 39 league appearances, despite starting the campaign ahead of Joel Piroe as their starting centre forward.
Now with the young striker making it clear he would like to leave Elland Road this summer and return to his native Spain, TEAMtalk can confirm that Leeds’ preference would be for him to leave on a straight loan, before the start of their Premier League campaign.
However, LaLiga club Real Betis, who are the frontrunners in the race for Joseph, are pushing to sign him on loan with an option to buy included in the deal.
A permanent transfer could be another option, even if it isn’t Leeds’ first choice. If they go down that route, we understand that Leeds will demand a minimum of £12million (€13.8m, $16.3m) for his services.
So far, no club has submitted a proposal that Leeds consider suitable, so Joseph’s situation is currently on hold. Real Betis remain the favourites, though other Spanish clubs are also monitoring the situation…
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If Betis – or another Spanish club – submit an acceptable offer, sources confirm Leeds are open to offloading Joseph this summer, whether on a temporary or permanent basis.
Joseph’s stance, meanwhile, is clear: he wants to leave Leeds and start a new chapter in his native Spain. His exit has stalled for now, but things could change quickly if the right offer arrives.
Following Leeds’ 4-1 friendly win over SC Verl, Leeds boss Farke was asked about Joseph’s situation by the media
“It was actually the plan to have him here [in Germany],” Farke said. “With him, the situation is quite clear. We really value and rate him – otherwise we wouldn’t have played him, especially in the beginning of the last successful campaign ahead of a golden boot winner in Joel Piroe and an experienced striker like Patrick Bamford.
“Nevertheless, he came to me and asked for a new challenge and would like to move. He has also hinted that he prefers a move to Spain due to his Spanish roots. That was his call.”
Farke has said he “won’t stand in the way” of a move for Joseph, but expressed his disappointment.
“We have invested a lot in him – time, money and backing,” Farke added. “He’s on a long-term contract [until 2028] and we value him. This is for our key people and the board to decide the value. The truth is that no other club has met our expectations yet.
“Because of that, we expected him to train and travel with us. He mentioned that he didn’t feel ready for the trip to Stockholm. I accepted this because he started later with training. The day after, he said he didn’t feel ready to travel to play the friendlies here in Germany.
“It’s not a situation I like. I’ve spoken honestly to him and strongly recommended him to be professional, but he said he’s not in a mental state to do this.
“What should I do? I can’t call the police to drag him here on the training pitch. It was his decision.”
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