Joe Rodon, whom Tottenham Hotspur previously recruited to replace Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich
has performed well in the second division and is close to a permanent transfer.
Britain’s ‘TBR Football’ reported on the 20th (Korean time), “Leeds United coach Daniel Farque is planning to sign Rodon for 15 million pounds (about 25.4 billion won).”
Wales center back Rodon, born in 1997, began playing for Tottenham in 2020, but played only 24 games in the first team over the two years until the 2021-22 season.
Last season, he went on a one-season loan to Stade Rennes in Ligue 1, France, and played in 22 games, but he still did not receive trust from the club.
In the end, Tottenham chose to send Rodon out on loan for one more season.
Leeds, who finished 19th in the Premier League last season and were relegated to the second division
the English Championship, showed great interest in Rodon, and Rodon moved to Leeds on loan ahead of the new season. 지울프-토토
Rodon, who was not used at Tottenham, has been reborn as a key center back for Leeds. Since the start of the season
he has appeared in 25 games in all competitions, taking his total playing time to 2,104 minutes. He played full-time as a starter in all 23 games this season except for two.
Thanks to Rodon’s performance, Leeds ranked second in least goals conceded, conceding only 25 goals in 27 league games this season.
Leeds are currently in 4th place, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, and are aiming for promotion to the Premier League.
Leeds, who were satisfied with Rodon’s performance, positively considered signing him permanently.
Regarding this, the media explained, “Coach Farque revealed that Leeds are already working behind the scenes to prepare for Rodon’s permanent transfer.”
“There’s no doubt about it, we’re very satisfied with Rodon and his performances,” Farque said of Rodon, according to the outlet. “You can see it,” he said.
“We are happy because he is playing an important role at Leeds. We are more than happy with him and we would like him to stay a little longer, but it is not a pressing issue,” he said.
Roden will be with us until the end of the season. “It’s the most important,” he added.
The media predicted that if Leeds wanted to sign Rodden, he would have to pay a transfer fee of 15 million pounds (about 25.4 billion won).
When Tottenham recruited Rhoden from Swansea City, the transfer fee paid was 11 million pounds (about 18.7 billion won).
Tottenham is also expected to let Rodden go if a suitable offer comes.
Currently, Christian Romero and Mickey van der Pen are the starting defenders for Tottenham, and Romanian Radu Dragusin was recently added.
Although Roden is currently performing well on the Championship stage, it is assumed that Tottenham will not block Rodon if he wants to transfer, as they currently have sufficient first-team center back resources.
Meanwhile, if Rodon moves permanently to Leeds, Tottenham’s decision to give up Kim Min-jae will ultimately end in failure.
Tottenham had the opportunity to sign Kim Min-jae, who is currently considered one of the best defenders in Europe,
for a very low transfer fee. When Kim Min-jae was playing for Beijing Guoan in China, coach Jose Mourinho,
who was the head coach of Tottenham at the time, actively pursued the recruitment of Kim Min-jae, but the plan was canceled due to opposition from the club.
Coach Mourinho, currently the head coach of AS Roma, said in January of last year, “I wanted Kim Min-jae when I was at Tottenham.
He also wanted to come to Tottenham, so we talked through video calls several times.”
He continued, “The transfer fee proposed by Tottenham was 5 million euros (about 7.2 billion won), and his price at the time was 10 million euros (about 14.4 billion won)
and “At the time, Tottenham prepared up to 8 million euros (about 11.6 billion won) and the deal was concluded.
Even though it could have been possible, they only offered 5 million euros,” he added.
Coach Mourinho wanted Kim Min-jae, but Tottenham decided to recruit Rodon, who was familiar with English football
rather than a defender with no experience in Europe, which ultimately made Tottenham greatly regret.
While Rodon did not grow as expected after joining Tottenham
Kim Min-jae showed tremendous growth after transferring to Turkye Fenerbahce in 2021, becoming a world-class center back.
Kim Min-jae, who moved to SSC Napoli, a prestigious Italian Serie A team last season, where he played as a key defender and led the team to its first league title in 33 years
moved to German Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich this summer for a transfer fee of 50 million euros (about 72.2 billion won).