Transfer sagas have long been part and parcel of a football manager’s job description. The management of them, what to say in public, what to say to the player, when to cut your losses and when to fight tooth and nail to keep your star.
Within a month of taking over at Leeds United, Jesse Marsch has already watched one particularly prominent transfer rumour catch light. That’s despite a wait of more than two months for the next window to open.
The American may have hoped he would get a clear look at the run-in without any distractions from on-the-pitch matters, but the international break was stuffed with daily reports from Spain about Raphinha, his agent Deco and Barcelona. This is the first transfer speculation brought to Marsch in his press conference and it was always going to be fascinating to see how he dealt with it after such a frank, honest, open and intelligent approach to speaking about tactics.
