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Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth believes Joseph Paintsil’s situation could be one to watch on deadline day with the player still keen on a move to Leeds United.
Sheth was speaking to Give Me Sport on the future of Paintsil, where he claimed the 25-year-old remains keen on a move to Leeds rather than Southampton.
As per Sheth, Leeds were in advanced talks over an £8.6 million deal for Paintsil last week but threatened to withdraw their offer after feeling Genk ‘moved the goalposts’ on their asking price.
It was also reported by the Athletic that Paintsil’s preference was a move to Leeds over Southampton, who were rejected by him after a swap deal for Paul Onuachu was agreed.
According to Phil Hay, Leeds are willing to pay £10 million to sign Paintsil but a major stumbling block to completing a transfer has been some bonuses he feels Genk potentially owe to him.
Sheth says Paintsil still wants Leeds over Southampton
Sheth claimed there could still be a possibility Leeds get a deal done if Genk and Paintsil are able to ‘sort out their dispute’, with the player keen on the move and it representing a good fee for the Belgian club.
“I think Leeds still believe that Paintsil wants to go to the club. It just could come to a bit of brinkmanship towards the end of the window on whether Genk and Paintsil can sort out their dispute to allow this deal to happen, because for Genk this would be big money.
“And it’s one of those situations where ‘can they refuse it?’ They probably don’t want to refuse it. They probably still want to do the deal with Southampton, but they’re probably aware that Paintsil’s preference is probably to go to Leeds.”
This could be a deal where Leeds’ patience to wait right until the very last pays off, providing they have not completely walked away from negotiations.
Player power could play a key role in the transfer getting done, but ultimately if Paintsil is not able to sort his financial disagreement out with Genk, it feels likely that he will stay in Belgium.