So what to do with Alfonso Pedraza.
Leeds United signed the 21 year old on loan from Villarreal at the end of the January window. Pedraza had previuously been on loan at Lugo, in Spain’s second division, but Villarreal had a recall clause.
They used this, and it caused such a fuss at Lugo, where Pedraza was a star player, that the club’s sporting director left a couple of weeks afterwards. Lugo should have had a clause themselves, meaning Villarreal couldn’t take Pedraza so late in the window, and overlooking that appeared to cost someone their job.
At Villarreal they felt it was an offer they couldn’t refuse. Not only were Leeds United paying a loan fee, but also committing to a €10m transfer should they get promotion. That looked a reasonable prospect given Leeds’ form and position at the time, and that they were adding the young Spaniard to their squad.
Now a play-off place is pretty much impossible, so Leeds and Villarreal will have to negotiate Pedraza’s future. The easiest scenario would be Leeds giving up any idea of keeping the youngster, and sending him back.
Should Garry Monk fancy Pedraza could do a job for them next season, then a similar loan is surely a possibility. Pedraza’s contract doesn’t run out until June 2019, although Villarreal may look to extend that, and a second roll of the dice to get €10m could be seen as worth it.
Villarreal currently have 26 year old Roberto Soriano playing where Pedraza would. The Italian has 9 goals and five assists in La Liga this season, it’s unlikely they’d want to see him go.
