adminFull details have now emerged regarding the agreement that brought Jean-Matteo Bahoya to Leeds United this summer, with three key conditions that must be fulfilled if the Eintracht Frankfurt star is to complete a permanent switch to Elland Road.
The Whites used the summer transfer window to make some significant improvements to their squad.
Tarik Muharemovic and Nico Elvedi appear to be very capable additions to the defence, while James Trafford represents a clear upgrade between the posts, with the £40m club-record signing already regarded among the top 10 acquisitions in Leeds’ Premier League era.
However, while those three arrivals have helped Leeds concede just three goals across their opening five Premier League matches, giving Daniel Farke’s side the joint-best defensive record in the division, there is still some uncertainty surrounding their attacking additions.
Indeed, neither Harry Wilson nor Bahoya has managed to make a significant impact on Leeds’ results so far. Wilson missed their most recent fixture – a frustrating 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace due to a leg muscle injury – although there remain expectations that he will eventually produce his best form for the Whites.
Bahoya’s circumstances, however, appear considerably more uncertain. Brought in as a direct replacement for Willy Gnonto, who moved to Fiorentina on loan, the winger has played just one minute of football so far, with Farke opting to take his time with the 21-year-old French speedster.
That has inevitably prompted questions over whether Leeds will ultimately make the transfer permanent, even at this very early stage of the campaign, with certain conditions needing to be satisfied before the deal becomes permanent.
According to BILD, Leeds will be required to make Bahoya’s move permanent if three conditions are fulfilled, with the player needing to feature in 10 matches during the season, and any amount of playing time counting towards that total. That means he only needs to make nine further appearances – even if he is introduced from the bench for just a minute each time.
The report also states that the obligation to buy has been set at £25.8m (€30m, $34.2m) once those conditions are triggered.
TEAMtalk also understands that, under the terms of the agreement, Leeds must have secured their Premier League status for another season before they become liable to make the payment.
Leeds boss Farke content to be patient with Bahoya
Some may compare Bahoya’s situation with the difficult circumstances Harvey Elliott experienced at Aston Villa last season – when Unai Emery ultimately did not select the Liverpool loanee 10 times, preventing a permanent transfer from being triggered – but we understand Leeds are primarily focused on developing the player and giving the 21-year-old sufficient time to adapt to a new league and unfamiliar surroundings.
Rather than accelerating his progression, Farke intends to work on his tactical requirements with the player during training and ensure that, when he is eventually given an extended opportunity, Leeds supporters see the strongest possible version of Bahoya.
One potential obstacle is that Leeds no longer rely on traditional out-and-out wingers, with wing-backs Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson instead providing width on either side; a system that has brought the best out of both players and helped Leeds thrive in the 3-4-1-1 formation Farke currently employs.
However, the Leeds manager believes he is right to remain patient with Bahoya, recently explaining to the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Obviously with Jean-Matteo he came more or less from the bench, he was sitting on the bench at the end of last season also, and at the beginning of the season in the Bundesliga, and especially with a young boy, I have to look after them that they are really well-prepared when I throw them into the cold Premier League water.
“I know how this league is; it is unforgiving, and if you put a player in and it’s not a good performance on the debut, then pretty quickly a player is buried already.
”I have to make sure when I bring a player in that he’s really ready, physically and mentally ready and performance-wise ready for the Premier League level. This is what we are doing with Jean-Matteo.
“I have to say he is a top character, a player with lots of potential, lots of skills.
“Obviously, he came with not with the highest confidence and not the highest rhythm and also like not the physical fitness level to start games because he hasn’t played many games in the starting line-up recently.
“But you can see him growing on the training pitch more or less from day to day, and for that he edges closer, and he was also picked for the matchday squads, and he has also all chances to be involved if he works further on like this then he comes closer and closer, and I like at the moment what I see on the training pitch.”
“This doesn’t mean that we change straight away, more or less our pecking order there, because of all the excitement about new signings.
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