Daniel Farke reveals Leeds United stance on Luis Sinisterra to Bournemouth transfer

Daniel Farke admits he wanted to keep Luis Sinisterra on deadline day, but says Leeds United had to accept “the reality” of the situation.

Sinisterra joined Bournemouth on Friday [1 September] on a season-long loan with the option to buy, with Jaidon Anthony heading the opposite way.

After months of speculation, it looked as though Leeds had done enough to keep the Colombia international at Elland Road until Bournemouth struck a deal close to the deadline

Farke gave a frank assessment of the situation when telling reporters, as per Leeds Live [3 September]: “You know that I’m always open and honest.

“I praised Luis more or less since arriving and we spoke about what a player he is and that he can be an outstanding, dominating player on this level.

“If I would tell you I’m happy that Luis is away, no one would believe that. So, obviously, we tried everything in order to keep him but we also spoke quite open and honest about him.

“His contractual situation was complicated. I won’t go too much into details but in the end sometimes you have to accept also a tough reality. The reality is that we have to accept that he went this way and is out at Bournemouth right now.”

Hand forced

Leeds wanted to keep hold of Sinisterra and made their stance clear, as they did regarding the future of Wilfried Gnonto.

A relegation clause in the player’s contract expired earlier in the summer, yet he still managed to depart Elland Road on an initial loan.

As The Athletic’s Phil Hay pointed out on Saturday [2 September], Leeds did not want to get embroiled in a legal dispute and therefore let him leave.

The fact he officially departed so late in the window – after the 11pm deadline, in fact – was far from ideal from United’s point of view.

But Farke was happy to bring in Anthony in return, and the German does still have a hugely talented group of players to choose from.

Unlike Sinisterra, Anthony will no doubt be excited to play in front of Leeds fans every week and he now has a platform to push on and become a star in his own right.