Leeds United’s £22m breach leaves another sour taste in mouth as deal cleared

Loan clauses are not expected to strangle Leeds United in this transfer window as much as they were 12 months ago, but they are not dead and buried. Seven players managed to leave Daniel Farke and the Whites last summer without the club being able to do anything.

Andrea Radrizzani, Angus Kinnear and Victor Orta oversaw a long string of contract deals that allowed United players to jump on board in the event of relegation. Provided they could find clubs that would pay their wages in full, they were free to leave for the season and avoid righting the wrongs of their relegation.

Jack Harrison is one of two players with such a clause active again this summer following United’s failure to win promotion last month. The 27-year-old’s second loan move to Everton is expected to be announced shortly.

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Daniel Farke will be delighted to have one of this summer’s many loose ends tied up, even if it may not be the most satisfying of conclusions. If Farke accepts that they are powerless to control Harrison’s fate, the next best option is to resolve it quickly by clearing the players’ wages from their budget as soon as possible.

However, a sour taste will remain in some mouths. The obvious reaction to the news of Harrison’s sixth loan in six years is frustration that the mark-up on a lucrative asset has slipped through Leeds’ fingers.

We don’t know if Farke would have wanted to work with Harrison, but the player had no interest in returning to the Championship. If an exit is agreed as the best outcome, then surely a sale is the way Leeds would have wanted to go.

LeedsLive understands the Whites were open to permanent talks with the Toffees, but while that clause existed it made life infinitely easier for Harrison and Everton to do it quickly. Having paid around £11m for Harrison in 2021, Leeds could have generated a sizeable return on their fair play financial projections with a permanent sale.

That would have been the money that helped Farke in this transfer window and perhaps even saved an alternative player in the squad from having to be sold this summer. As it is, Leeds will make do with the money saved on wages and give Everton a free run on a player they may not have had the financial chance to sign permanently.

It all boils down, like so many moves last year, to the clause where Orta et al. they placed so much trust, a clause which Farke derided in the strongest terms at every opportunity. Leeds even had the chance to move on from this type of deal when they handed Harrison a new contract just 14 months ago.

Radrizzani had accepted a £22m bid from Leicester City for Harrison at the 11th hour of the January 2023 window, but 49ers Enterprises pulled the plug once they found out what was happening on the other side of the world. Almost as an apology for that mess, which saw the winger booted out of Leicester on medical, a new contract arrived two months later.

Harrison’s previous contract was due to expire in June 2024, so he was approaching the final 12 months of that deal. United were looking to retain their value, no doubt increasing wages, but the fine print has left them in their current position.

It was a deal that kept Harrison at Elland Road, with deals pending, until 2028. Leeds were two points above the drop zone when they agreed to give him that escape clause.

Within a month, Orta had disappeared. Within two months, Leeds were relegated. Within five months, Harrison was gone. We’ll meet again on Harrison in 12 months’ time, when he’ll have three more years to run on that contract.