Freiburg decided against a deadline day move for Leeds United forward Wilfried Gnonto despite having looked at him throughout the summer window.
That’s according to BILD, who explain why the German side did not take their interest further despite having the Italian on a list of potential targets.
The newspaper explains that the further offensive reinforcement that Freiburg had been hoping for throughout the summer did not materialise on deadline for several reasons.
Leeds forward Gnonto was one of the targets they considered as ‘dream players’ however a combination of ‘player commitment and management transfer demands’ meant a deal did not happen.
Gnonto, for his part, gave his ‘approval’ to the transfer as he sought a move away from Elland Road, but Freiburg decided not to advance with it.
They had the money for a transfer worth around €20m but the club decided that spending such a sum on a player would mean they’d be locked in for years.
Their fear was that if they paid such a figure to Leeds for Gnonto, or for any of their other targets, then other clubs would demand it in future as well. In other words, they didn’t want to set a precedent.
Gnonto was considered a player on ‘unreachable shelves’ anyway and Leeds refused a departure, despite the forward making clear his ‘explicit desire’ to move.
Thus, a deal for him never happened, with Freiburg pulling out and keeping hold of their money to instead focus on the options they already have at their disposal.
