After a long saga which involved clubs including Leeds United, Real Sociedad, Eibar and Sporting, Ibai Gomez finally moved from Alaves to Athletic Club Bilbao.
The 29 year old’s contract was due to expire with Alaves in the summer and Athletic did all they could to get their former player back, as they look to try and move on from a very poor first half of the season.
Leeds United had also been interested in the summer, and it was certainly a destination the player didn’t rule out. When the claims of a January attempt started, Sport Witness was informed that Gomez would look kindly on such a move, partly because of Marcelo Bielsa.
Speaking to Mundo Deportivo, Gomez was asked if he’d had offers from the Premier League, and replied: “Yes, I did.”
He was then asked if he’d also had an offer from Leeds United: “Yes, and I took time over it. I had offers from more than one team from the Premier League, from the Champions (unclear if he meant a Championship or Champions League team) and from Leeds as well as from other countries: Portugal, Germany…”
Asked if he’d spoke to Marcelo Bielsa about a move to Elland Road, Gomez said: “No, no, not directly with him, but we have been in contact in another way and it was one of the options that attracted me. I was very good here (at Athletic) with Bielsa, I had a very good season, but I didn’t think it was time to change country in January.”
There had been claims that Leeds didn’t make a serious offer in the end, but it now seems their desire to sign Ibai Gomez was clear… and they came pretty close to pulling it off.
