The transfer business has finally ended. Against all odds, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a Chelsea blue while Xavi’s long-awaited dream to bring Marcos Alonso to Barcelona is now fulfilled.
Ex-Arsenal wing back, Hector Bellerin is also another addition to Barcelona’s squad, who now have a team that can counter anyone in the world. Transfer deadline day always cooks up an anecdote that we remember for ages.
Be it Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United or the most expensive deadline day deal of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, the uncertainty and shock value that the ultimate day of the transfer window brings cannot be beaten by the best thrillers in the movie business.
Taking in the reins from the previous windows, the 2022 summer window has been none different.
In a complete turn of events, Leeds United saw a deal fail right before their eyes on deadline day. The club was certain of a Senegalese forward named Bamba Dieng from Marseille.
The £8.6million fee was agreed between Marseille and Leeds and the 22-year-old promising striker was on course for his medical to Elland Road.
While waiting to board his private jet for England, Bamba received another counter offer which was more lucrative and was indeed from a club in France itself.
He pondered for a bit and addressed this offer. Nice, the Ligue 1 club, realizing his accrued potential to a squad comprising Kasper Schmeichel, Aaron Ramsey, and Nicolas Pepe couldn’t help but jump at the prospect of signing a 22-year-old forward.
Bamba turned the jet around and went straight to Nice for the medical. On hearing the news about the Senegalese’s betrayal, Leeds were furious. They thought that the deal was written in ink, but Bamba was in Nice, getting his medical by Nice’s staff.
In complete panic, the director of football at Leeds, Victor Orta, scrambled to sign a striker for Jesse Marsch. PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo was one option, but the club blocked any incursion from the English club and Orta had to resort to a young Italian forward, Wilfried Gnonto from FC Zurich, for £3 million in the dying hours of the transfer window.
Leeds may have been blessed with another young talent, but Bamba failed his medical at Nice and, for a moment, looked completely helpless. For all his pursuit of a new club, Bamba was left with no option but to stay put at Marseille.
However, there is news that Nice might just revive Bamba’s deal. This is only because the French clubs may complete one deal between the summer and winter transfer windows because of a long-standing rule that exists in Ligue 1.
There is still hope for the Senegalese, but he will forever rue the day when he turned down the prospect of playing in the most competitive league in the world.