At one stage Tyler Adams’ transfer to AFC Bournemouth was threatening to get a bit messy, but the two clubs did belatedly come to an agreement, and he has now joined the south coast club. And he wants us all to know how sorry he is that his time at Elland Road didn’t turn out a bit better.

The deal finally went through when the two clubs agreed on a fee £23 million, plus possible add-ons in future. On the face of it, this is a slightly better offer than the £20 million reported as being specified in the player’s release clause, which expired on August 15th. Bournemouth thought they had activated the clause, but they didn’t manage to agree personal terms with Adams before the deadline.

It seemed as though a legal battle was likely, but all would have depended on the exact wording of the release clause. Did they just need to make the initial offer before the 15th, or did they need to get the whole deal over the line before that date? We will never know how that would have played out in court, now that the clubs have shaken hands on a different arrangement.

The statement on the club’s official website was short and to the point, “Leeds United can confirm Tyler Adams has joined AFC Bournemouth in a permanent deal, for an undisclosed fee.” But the man himself was a little more forthcoming in his parting message to the fans. “Not an easy goodbye. The club, my teammates and the fans have supported me since day 1, and I wish I could’ve given more in the home stretch. Forever grateful for this past year.”

Some Leeds fans on social media have reacted to this with derision, but I don’t think we can regard Adams as one of those responsible for the position we now find ourselves in. He was one of the better signings of the last two years, and if he hadn’t got injured towards the end of last season we may well have stayed up.

And while many of us have slated him for his lack of ambition and joining a club with a much smaller fanbase than ours, it seems that being in the Premier League is all that matters. And Bournemouth may well be capable of staying up for one more season under their new boss Androni Iraola, who arrived with a record of low budget success in his native Spain.

At least we’ve managed to sell a player rather than yet another loan, as the offer was for more than the £20m we originally paid to sign him from RB Leipzig, so we wouldn’t have to record a loss in the accounts. What matters now is that we can spend some of this money before the widow closes, and we know that the club are pursuing several transfer targets. Let’s hope that this time around we spend our cash on players who are proud to wear the shirt.

Reuters

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