{"id":319288,"date":"2025-08-05T07:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319288\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T07:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:56:13","slug":"igor-paixao-breaks-silence-on-why-he-chose-to-join-marseille-over-leeds-united-easy-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319288\/","title":{"rendered":"Igor Paixao breaks silence on why he chose to join Marseille over Leeds United, ‘easy question’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Igor Paixao has finally spoken to reporters about his move to Marseille from Feyenoord this summer, choosing to move to the Ligue 1 side over Leeds United.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It turned out to be a head-to-head battle for Paixao<\/a> last month. The Brazilian winger was a strong target for Leeds<\/a> and Adam Underwood put forward what he thought was enough to get the wide man to Leeds.<\/p>\n

During the Paderborn game, Leeds got an email from Feyenoord<\/a>. They confirmed that they had accepted a \u00a330.2m offer from Leeds, and Leeds had agreed personal terms with the player\u2019s representatives.<\/p>\n

But there was always a worry for Underwood. The Leeds transfer chief always knew Paixao fancied a move to Marseille, and knew that if Marseille stumped up the cash, they would land Paixao\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

\"IgorPhoto by CHRISTOPHE SIMON\/AFP via Getty ImagesIgor Paixao speaks out on Marseille choice in press conference<\/p>\n

Marseille\u2019s sporting director Pablo Longoria finally upped his side\u2019s initial offer to over \u00a330m, and a deal was done. Leeds came close, to a player they thought was a genuine game changer in the final third.<\/p>\n

A blow for Leeds, who are yet to bring in a replacement for Manor Solomon on the left. Speaking in his first press conference<\/a> as a Marseille player, Paixao explains his decision to join Marseille over Leeds.<\/p>\n

Asked what \u201cmotivated\u201d him to join Marseille, he said: \u201cThat\u2019s an easy question. OM is a club with values. It\u2019s very special for me. I want to give my all. It\u2019s a big responsibility, we\u2019re going to do something great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IgorPhoto by CHRISTOPHE SIMON\/AFP via Getty ImagesWho have Leeds been linked with since, as a replacement?<\/p>\n

Immediately after reports said Paixao had chosen Marseille, Leeds were linked with Fiorentina\u2019s Riccardo Sottil<\/a> and Ajax ace Mika Godts. But Graham Smyth quickly denied Leeds were looking at Sottil or Godts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

More concrete reports say that Leeds are keen on Leicester\u2019s Bilal El Khannouss. A meeting was held with El Khannouss\u2019 camp last Wednesday<\/a>, with Leeds making it clear they would pay his \u00a324.5m exit clause.<\/p>\n

Arsenal, Lazio and Leverkusen also want El Khannouss<\/a>. Son Heung-min\u2019s exit to LAFC could also see Spurs enter the race for El Khannouss<\/a>, but that may open up the possibility of Solomon becoming available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Igor Paixao has finally spoken to reporters about his move to Marseille from Feyenoord this summer, choosing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,65175,1860,100,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-319288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-igor-paixao","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-transfer-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114975092717265436","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}