Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear believes both Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra didn’t handle their respective moves to Premier League outfit AFC Bournemouth well this summer, in an interview with The Square Ball.
USA international joined the Cherries on a five-year deal in August for a fee believed to be around £23 million before teammate Sinisterra followed on a season-long loan in the final moments of the transfer window. It was a blow for the Yorkshire side, with both players capable of shining in the Championship following the club’s relegation last season.
Leeds harbour ambitions of returning to the top flight at the first time of asking and managed to keep wantaway star Willy Gnonto, whilst bolstering their squad with the additions of the likes of Joel Piroe, Glen Kamara and Djed Spence.
Daniel Farke’s side have endured an indifferent start to the campaign, winning just one of their opening five fixtures. They currently sit 15th in the table following last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday and will travel to Millwall next weekend.
Both Adams and Sinisterra could make their debuts for Bournemouth following the international break, and Kinnear commented on the exits of the duo;
“At some point, and this is where we go to with Sinisterra, you have to make a decision around if a player is going to go to such extremes to leave the club, how much do you want him?
“Right until the last moment we have a player like Luis who we want to keep, but ultimately Luis was prepared to do anything to leave.
“Then we had to accept that and make sure we brought in a player (Jaidon Anthony) who really wanted to be here and we think can be at least an adequate replacement and, if you take his availability into account, potentially a better replacement.”
Asked if he would have preferred to keep the duo for their promotion pursuit this season, the CEO answered;
“No, based on their desire to leave.
“I respect all players’ desire to play at the highest level. They have short careers and they should have the opportunity, should they want to, to play at the highest level.
“To be fair to them, when they bought into the Leeds United project, they didn’t join a Championship side.
“However, I think there are ways you can handle your desire to play at the highest level. From a personal perspective, I don’t think either of those players handled it particularly well.
“I think you can voice your desire to leave, but you need to be professional in the interim. You need to remember who you’re contracted to and the value of that contract.
“I think you need to approach that through discussion and mutual agreement, rather than the avenues that they pursued.
“Ultimately I have to respect their decisions, but I don’t think it’s the way to behave to a club that has really looked after you and continues to look after you and was offering you fantastic alternatives to remain at the club.
“There were players who were perhaps led by their agents to employ tactics which will mean they’re not on our Christmas card list.”
Sinisterra could still return to the club next summer, with Bournemouth’s option to buy reportedly not eligible should Leeds secure promotion back to the Premier League.
Writer’s View
Kinnear pulled no punches when asked about Adams and Sinisterra’s departures and the summer months were rife with rumours of player exits. It was claimed that few of Leeds’ stars were unwilling to drop down to the Championship and Daniel Farke would have not enjoyed having to deal with player strikes and constant speculation.
It will be a relief that the transfer window is now shut and the manager can now concentrate on hitting a run of form once Championship football resumes next week.
It will be interesting to watch the situation with Sinisterra develop next summer should Leeds secure promotion back to the Premier League and the reception he will receive from the fans should he represent the club once again.
