Leeds United missed out on Raphinha-like windfall with current Man City ace: View | OneFootball

Leeds United almost signed Josko Gvardiol in the summer of 2020 after being promoted under Marcelo Bielsa, but the defender opted against a move to the Premier League and has been rewarded for his patience with a Premier League title with Manchester City.

Back in the summer of 2020 when Victor Orta, Bielsa and co. were trying to build a Leeds side that would be capable of retaining their top-flight status indefinitely, replacing the departed Ben White at the back appeared to be one of the most vital things to address, after the Brighton loanee had barely put a foot wrong and played every minute of Championship football in the season prior.

Diego Llorente and Robin Koch were the replacements that Orta found for a combined fee of roughly £30 million, after their approaches for White were knocked back by his parent club, but they weren’t the only targets the club had in mind as they became frustrated with White.

A Croatian young star, Gvardiol, was on the club’s radar and a very near signing for the Whites, with Fabrizio Romano sharing that Dinamo Zagreb had agreed to his £18million sale to move to West Yorkshire.

Gvardiol almost signs for Leeds

Gvardiol was believed to be a serious target for the Whites in the summer of 2020 as their pursuit of White continued to drag on. The Athletic reported on the news at the time for the then-Dinamo Zagreb centre-back. However, the deal eventually fell through due to the player turning down the opportunity to move to Leeds, instead choosing RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.

The players' reasoning for rejecting Leeds was due to believing he wasn’t ready for Premier League football at the age of 18, seeing the German top-flight as the next best step, for a club also competing regularly in Europe at the time and since then, too.

The versatile defender then went on to play 87 times for Leipzig, starring at the World Cup in Qatar for Croatia during the winter of 2022 as well. For Leipzig, he mostly played in a familiar centre-back role, with his ball-playing abilities crucial in build-up play, whilst his sheer physicality and athleticism at such a young age was a prominent part of his skillset.

He also operated infrequently as a modern-day inverted full-back at times, and has been utilised there for Croatia on a number of occasions as well. Before his move to Man City, it was clear how talented he was, and that he was well on the way to being labelled a world-class defender, after proving himself to be one of the best players in his age group in the world.

It’s a real shame that Leeds did not acquire the centre-back. In the summer they were promoted, Orta spent plenty of money to improve both the floor and ceiling of the squad, with plenty of successes within that, not least with Raphinha, who would eventually move to Barcelona and bag Leeds a huge profit in the process.

However, Gvardiol was possibly the best player in the world of his age in his position at the time and his ceiling was evidently enormous. Even at the age of just 18, he possessed fantastic pace, mobility, strength, aerial ability, and was fantastic in possession as well.

He could become the complete package as a defender and will forever be one that got away, even if Leeds’ talent identification with this one was impressive to begin with.

Leeds made a mistake with Gvardiol

If Gvardiol didn't think he was Premier League ready aged 18, then he certainly is now after a few years of development.

He was destined to play in England one day, but that won’t ever be with Leeds, unfortunately.

Leeds should, and perhaps could, have pushed harder for Gvardiol's signature. It may have taken a fair bit of convincing at the time, but he is now a champion of England in his first campaign in the division, even if he has been a slow-burner of a Man City signing after joining from Leipzig for £77.6million, taking his time to acclimatise to the top-flight.

Perhaps he was justified in turning Leeds down, given he arrived three years older at 21 in the summer and still needed an adjustment period, where he was criticised for his huge price tag during the first half of the season. However, it now appears as though Leeds were right to have been scouting the Croatian international, with Pep Guardiola now finding a new level out of him.

Not only has he proved to be a solid modern defender with pace and power to keep up with the speed of the Premier League and opposing attackers in transition, but he’s become an even greater asset in possession than first imagined.

Primarily used in the hybrid left-back role, where he will invert into midfield, much like he was capable of doing at times with Leipzig, Gvardiol has been crucial in big games and moments at the back end of the season.

He came into the final weekend with five goals and three assists to his name, but every single one of those came since the beginning of April and the start of the run-in. It highlights a player that has grown into his role as the season has progressed, but also a player who can be clutch in big moments despite being down as a defender.

He added further to his account away at Fulham on the penultimate weekend of the season and picked up his first Premier League crown in his debut season with the club.

It's one of many that got away for Leeds, as Gvardiol's versatility should see him become one of the best players in the world in the coming years. He had the potential to be Raphinha-like for Leeds, at least in terms of a transfer fee they could have received to flip him for profit to a club like Man City, but instead it was Leipzig who got a heck of a payday out of Gvardiol.