SV Hamburg - Summerville went as far as asking Bielsa to leave.
Now Bielsa has come clean on those talks and revealed why the transfer failed to go through.
“He spoke with me and he told me he wanted to leave. I told him that would not be a problem,”
Bielsa revealed, via Leeds Live.
“The reason why I said this to him is if a player who has pretty frequent participation with the first team, not necessarily coming on, but contemplated frequently, asked me to leave, for me that reason is sufficient.
“For any player that tells me they want to leave, I would answer: no problem, I’m not opposed to you leaving. But what is the reason he wants to leave? I don’t analyse if it corresponds or not, simply not wanting to be here is sufficient. That’s a sporting position.”
Leeds put their foot down
Bielsa, though, revealed that the transfer broke down after Leeds put their foot down.
“After the club has a different look on it because the players sign contracts and have obligations,” he said. “They sum up to economic value and I don’t have the power to decide contractual or economic problems.
Bielsa questions who made Summerville situation public
Bielsa was then asked about who are the other 10 players he mentioned in the same position as Summerville.
The Leeds boss, though, refused to provide more details but did question how and why the situation with Summerville made it into the media.
“The desire of someone not continuing, nor my position, if you don’t want to be here then what sense does it make to stay
“And of course with all of this being made public, it’s no good for anybody. It’s not good for me, not for Summerville, not for Leeds.