In the wake of Sam Byram’s departure in January the club have promised to negotiate new deals for Lewis Cook, Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor, yet the press in now rife with conflicting claims about the future of two of these three players.
The current contracts of all three players are due to expire in the summer of 2017, and unless they can be renegotiated the club would need to sell them by next January at the latest, to avoid having to let them go for a nominal fee once their current deals had expired. On Friday Steve Evans told the Yorkshire Post he was optimistic the club could avoid a repeat of the Sam Byram scenario.
"I certainly know the president and Paul Bell (the club’s executive director) have been speaking to representatives of those guys. That will go where it goes. There’s no pressure from me; the club decides what’s right and what’s not right, but I think we won’t be going into next season with them only having one season left on their deals.”
Yet this has been denied by Mowatt’s agent Mark Rankine, who told the paper that he had not had any approach from the club. "Absolutely none whatsoever. Nobody has spoken to me about it, or to Alex.”
And now there is an even bigger row taking shape regarding the future of Lewis Cook, following the claim that "a source involved in the negotiation of Cook’s contract last year has confirmed to The Yorkshire Post that his current deal includes a release clause allowing the England Under-19 international to leave Elland Road for a fee of £5m if Leeds fail to win promotion this season.”
This has been flatly denied by a statement on the club’s official website, with the title ‘CLUB RESPONDS TO INACCURATE PRESS REPORTS’. The full statement said:-
"Leeds United would like to categorically deny reports that have emerged in the local press this morning regarding a supposed release clause in the contract of Lewis Cook. The claim by the Yorkshire Evening Post, which the club feels was published with damaging intentions, is entirely inaccurate and unfair reporting. No release clause whatsoever exists in the contract of the player in question.”
As ever these days, it’s difficult to know the truth, or even to make a guess, as to what is really going on behind the scenes at Leeds United. I suppose we can be thankful that we don’t have any claims and counter-claims circulating about the future of Charlie Taylor.
But one thing we do know is that there was a lot of Premier League interest in Cook during the last transfer window, including a firm bid from Bournemouth. No doubt one or two clubs will have taken note of the Yorkshire Post’s claim, and as there is no chance of promotion this season there’s a chance that somebody will test the truth of it with a £5m bid.
Call me a pessimist, but unless things improve dramatically at Leeds United there’s not much chance of any of these three promising youngsters being at the club this time next year.