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One year on, Andrea Radrizzani’s £7.7m Leeds United sacrifice has not yet paid off
A year ago today Leeds United confirmed the signing of Patrick Bamford from Middlesbrough. Leeds spent £7 million to bring the proven goalscorer to Elland Road on a four-year deal.
The move came after aborted attempts to sign Abel Hernandez and Matej Vydra but Bamford was still a considerable coup from the Whites.
But it was not a deal that came without sacrifice.
Out of nowhere, Leeds United also sold midfielder Ronaldo Vieira. The talented England under-21 international headed to Italian side Sampdoria. The fee involved, was around £7.7 million. It was a deal Andrea Radrizzani admitted to the BBC had been ‘very hard’ to accept.
“The sacrifice was very hard for me to do because he’s a great player.
“He was one of best players to come from our youth but I cannot put the club in danger in the future.
“We thought it would be a sacrifice we could take, and still maintain the team and invest where we need more.”
It became clear he had to be sold in order to fund the Bamford deal and both deals were done within 24 hours of each other.
But has it paid off?
Bamford has struggled at Leeds since his arrival. The lack of a full pre-season under Marcelo Bielsa told as he soon suffered a knee injury. Overall, it was a disappointing first season at Leeds for the player and he has really struggled to win over fans at Elland Road.
Vieira, did not fare much better in Italy. He spent most of his time on the bench, playing just 14 times in Serie A, starting just five times.
It is also a tactic which Leeds have seemingly not duplicated this summer. The funds raised from selling Jack Clarke and Pontus Jansson have been pushed into loan arrivals with it looking unlikely Leeds will bring anyone else in before the transfer window shuts next week.
Regarding Bamford and Vieira, it remains to be seen if the decision to sacrifice the midfielder for the striker has paid off.
If Bamford can score 20 goals and fire Leeds back to the promised land this season, then it will have been worth it. A repeat of this season however, and Leeds United might have made an unfortunate error.