Marcelo Bielsa claims Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville was one of 10 Leeds players who wanted to quit Elland Road last month.
Summerville was wanted on loan by Hamburg and a number of other foreign clubs during January’s transfer window.
Bielsa says the 20-year-old, who was made five substitute appearances for Leeds this season in the Premier League, told him he wanted to go when he spoke to him and said he did not stand in his way.
The club were not prepared to sanction Summerville’s exit unless they could sign a replacement and reportedly had a loan bid for Liverpool ’s Takumi Minamino rejected.
Bielsa revealed that 10 players were interesting in going out on loan to get more regular football.
The Leeds boss said: “He spoke with me and told me that he wanted to leave.
“I told him that there weren’t any problems with him leaving. The reason why I said this to him is that as a player he has a pretty frequent participation in the first team, not necessarily coming on, but he is a player that was contemplated frequently and he asked to leave. For me that reason, that motive is sufficient.
“Any player that tells me that they want to leave, I would answer, ‘no problem, I’m not opposed to you leaving. What is the reason?’ That is because he wants to leave.
“I don’t analyse whether it’s fair or not, whether it corresponds or not. Simply not wanting to be here is sufficient.
“The club has a different outlook on it, because the players sign contracts and they acquire obligations.
“The obligations sum up to economic. I don’t have the power to decide contractual or economic problems.
"In the case of Summerville, there were 10 players in a similar situation and all of the subjects, I treated them in the same way, as it can’t be any other way.”
Bielsa let defender Cody Drameh join Cardiff on loan last month, even though he wanted him to stay, and stressed he did not block Summerville’s departure.
“When a player signs a contract, he is saying that he wants to belong,” he said. “And I think it’s absolutely legitimate that he doesn’t want to belong any more.
“So all of the players that are within the club know that if they want to leave, I’m not going to stand in their way. But because I don’t stand in their way, it doesn’t mean that I decide. I only have part of the decision.
"The only thing I do know, is that if he didn’t leave, it wasn’t because I forced him or forced the club to keep him. I clearly said to him, ‘if you want to leave, then the best thing to do is for you to leave’, and I would say that to any player.
“A person wants to evolve - they consider that the place where they are won’t allow them to evolve like another place would.
“It happens in all labour situations, constantly and there’s nothing wrong with it, nor the desire of someone not continuing. What sense is it for you to stay?”
