Hands were shaken with Brendan Rodgers, Jack Harrison was inside Leicester City’s state-of-the-art training complex, the wheels were in motion and yet the transfer plug was pulled around 9.15pm on deadline day.
Going into Jesse Marsch’s first press conference since the window had closed, the big question was why. What had caused Leeds United minds to be changed at such a late hour?
The Whites went into the final day of the month knowing about Rodrigo’s ankle surgery and yet still the interest from King Power Stadium was entertained. Marsch maintains there was a resolute desire to keep Harrison, while Harrison wanted to be kept.
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However, as United navigated the various time zones their board members occupy and the tentative ownership situation, the parties involved felt it at least made logistical sense for Harrison to be in a position to move if Leeds pushed the button. There was little sense in him being sat at his Yorkshire home if a deal was struck in the final hours of the window.
“It's time to talk about transfers, I guess,” said Marsch. “How I would describe it is, in the 11th hour, something came from Leicester.
“We'd been talking with Jack for a while about renegotiating his contract and it's gone well, but then been stalled at different moments. We've spent a lot of money in the last couple of transfer windows, very wisely.
“We've invested very wisely, but before all the powers that be could get together from all the different angles, then in the 11th hour, there's some internal discussion in a lot of different ways on what's best for everyone.
“Once it all came together, it was clear we want to Jack to stay, Jack wanted to stay and that's why he's still here. We are visiting getting that contract extension finalised because Jack has earned it and he's an important guy in our squad.
“It created some complication because of the late 18 months left on his contract and this comes in, but in the end, we all came together very intelligently to say Jack needs to stay and Jack felt the same.”
Marsch, director of football Victor Orta, chief executive Angus Kinnear and Harrison’s agent, Remy Cherin, all remained in contact through deadline day. Cherin was praised by Marsch for the work he did in ensuring things never turned sour at any stage, despite the delays and indecision.
Marsch said: “When it came so late and when you looked at how we had spent money, then we were trying to contemplate ‘okay, is it the right moment?’ It was, in the moment, a chance for us to really now solidify exactly how we feel about Jack and how Jack feels about us and how it's all coming together.
“I would say I don't know there have been many opportunities where a player has learned how invested a club is in him than this one. Big offers come in [and] players have to consider what that might be and what that might look like.
“I don't fault anyone for visiting the possibility of what it could be, but in the end, once we got all the decision makers to align themselves, we all realised Jack has to stay.”
When you cut through to the bottom line in each of Marsch’s frequent answers on the topic, it kept coming back to you a late alignment by the club’s decision-makers. By virtue of their location on the planet, the inference is 49ers Enterprises joined the party a little later than everyone else and made an important call late in the day.
“If you can imagine Andrea [Radrizzani] is here in Italy, we're here in Leeds, the 49ers are in California, they just had a big game and we had to get everybody on the same page,” said Marsch. “In the last seconds, minutes, hours of the transfer window to just make sure we were all aligned.
“By the way, it was fair enough for Jack to [go down to Leicester], if that is the case. I knew he spoke to Brendan, but if it was the case he had to visit it a little more carefully.
“With the dialogue I was having with Jack the entire time his intention was never to leave. He wanted to stay, but we had to now make sure we could show him in every way the reasons why and then also make sure we were prepared to redo his contract.
“Once we were able to align all of us together to do that then, again, it was clear for everyone.”
What will be the lasting impact of his deadline-day false alarm? When will this new contract get signed? Will Harrison be in the right headspace to pick up where he left off in Accrington?
Marsch was definitive: “And so even the question about Jack: Is he ready? I actually think Jack is more confident than ever about his place here in our club.”
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