{"id":492276,"date":"2025-10-12T00:22:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T00:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/492276\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T00:22:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T00:22:21","slug":"43m-attacker-admits-he-once-rejected-leeds-united-for-an-unusual-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/492276\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a343m attacker admits he once rejected Leeds United for an \u2018unusual\u2019 reason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A former Leeds United transfer target has revisited the story of the unusual reason that he turned down a potential move to the club before eventually coming to the Premier League. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Farke<\/a> became the latest in a long line of Leeds United<\/a> managers to be frustrated by the lack of attacking signings in the most recent summer transfer window. <\/p>\n

Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/a> and Noah Okafor<\/a> were Leeds\u2019 main attacking signings this summer, with the focus being placed on adding a robust physical presence to Farke\u2019s Premier League<\/a> squad. <\/p>\n

Jesse Marsch<\/a> suffered a similar fate ahead of the 2022\/23 season, which ultimately saw Leeds suffer relegation, as the club missed out on a string of attacking targets, including a long-running attempt to sign Charles de Ketelaere<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Cody Gakpo also rejected the advances of Victor Orta<\/a> that summer, and the now Liverpool forward has retold the unique story of how he decided against a move to Elland Road<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"VictorPhoto By Joaquin Corchero\/Europa Press via Getty ImagesCody Gakpo revisits reasons for Leeds United rejection<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with Discovery Plus<\/a>, Netherlands international Gakpo revisited his unusual method for deciding whether or not to accept Leeds\u2019 offer. <\/p>\n

Gakpo, who eventually moved to the Premier League with Liverpool, explained that he put his decision down to divine intervention, basing it on how many goals he scored in a game for PSV.<\/p>\n

He recalled: \u201cThere was interest from Leeds and Southampton, and obviously, I could stay at PSV. I was so focused on making the transfer two weeks earlier, and when it collapsed, I thought, \u2018What am I going to do?\u2019 I was very honoured by the interest of the other clubs. I started to pray and asked for signs.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself, if I score three times, I will stay, two times, I would go to Leeds, and one time I would go to Southampton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s unusual, to be fair, but a desperate time for myself. I scored two, then I scored the third one, which was kind of an own goal or my goal, I didn\u2019t know. I came off and said, \u2018I scored two goals, so that\u2019s me leaving.\u2019 And he said if God wants you to stay, he will give that own goal as yours.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, at the end of the game, I got the third goal, and I got my answer; it was really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CodyPhoto by Domenic Aquilina\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesHow close did Cody Gakpo come to joining Leeds?<\/p>\n

Gakpo\u2019s lengthy flirtation with a move to Leeds is one of the great sliding doors moments in the club\u2019s recent history, as the failure to get the deal over the line proved costly. <\/p>\n

Having plundered 27 goals in 98 Premier League appearances, Gakpo has proven that he is capable of competing at the top level. He would have been a valuable addition to a Leeds squad that relied heavily on Rodrigo Moreno<\/a>, having lost Raphinha<\/a> in the summer. <\/p>\n

According to journalist Rik Elfrink<\/a>, in a post on social media site X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, Leeds went as far as to schedule a private jet to take Gakpo back to Leeds Bradford Airport to complete the deal. <\/p>\n

However, the forward never boarded the plane, and Leeds missed out on their man. The rest is history, as the Whites paid the ultimate price. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Leeds United transfer target has revisited the story of the unusual reason that he turned down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,22690,393,4884,1860,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-492276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cody-gakpo","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115358345257853517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492276","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=492276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}