Football transfers are, more often than not, hugely complicated.
When millions of pounds are involved, they invariably feature several rounds of negotiations amid a mountain of speculation in the press.
This summer, Leeds United have smoothly navigated a couple of eye-catching deals to bring Rodrigo Moreno and Robin Koch to Elland Road from Valencia and Freiburg respectively.
However, their pursuit of Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul is proving much more complicated.
The Whites have been heavily linked with the Argentine for several weeks, with De Paul reportedly keen to link up with compatriot Marcelo Bielsa in the Premier League.
Of course, the player’s desire is not enough to seal the deal with Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo demanding €35-40million for the South American, as reported by Italian journalist Nicolo Schira.
According to Schira, Leeds have offered €28m plus add-ons, so the clubs seem to be a considerable distance from reaching an agreement.
Pozzo, whose son Gino owns Watford, is known for being a shrewd transfer market operator. Under his tenure, Udinese have scouted, signed and developed players before selling them at a premium price.
Simply put, Pozzo is adept at generating profits through the resale of Udinese’s key players. De Paul, who reportedly cost the Italian club €3m from Valencia in 2016, is no different.
The 26-year-old is a pivotal member of Luca Gotti’s first-team, having been virtually ever-present in the starting line-up during his time at the club.
A creative and goalscoring presence in midfield, he has managed 25 goals and 23 assists in 146 games, and thus Pozzo feels his side should be suitably compensated for the loss of such an important player.
De Paul, who has 17 caps for Argentina, is far from the first player to have attracted interest from across the continent while playing for Udinese.
Alexis Sanchez, who joined the Italians for a reported £1.7m as a promising teenager in 2006, left to join Barcelona for around £25m five years later.
When Sanchez was poised to leave Udinese, Gino Pozzo - before he took over at Watford - said that the club would not entertain an offer from Napoli and that they were continuing their talks with Barcelona.
With Barca having just won the Champions League, it is fair to assume the Catalans were in a stronger financial position and therefore able to meet Udinese’s demands.
"Napoli have made an enquiry, but we want to focus on the talks with Barcelona for now. We don't want to [be] behind various negotiation tables at once. We'll have to wait until next week to see whether the talks with Barcelona lead to anything," Pozzo told Corriere dello Sport.
Other players bought for a relatively low amount before being moved on at a profit include Asamoah Gyan, Fabio Quagliarella, Juan Cuadrado and Bruno Fernandes, now of Manchester United.
Last year, they sold Alex Meret to Napoli for €35m, as per Football Italia, with the goalkeeper having come through the Udinese academy.
Theirs is a structure and a process that has been honed over many years. Pozzo boasts a wealth of experience in handling negotiations involving the potential sale of one of his players, and given Udinese’s fairly disappointing 13th-place finish in Serie A last season, he presumably does not want to part ways with De Paul for a price lower than his valuation.
To gauge how demanding the Pozzos can be, you need only look at Udinese’s managerial history. Since 2014, the club have fired 10 head coaches, many of whom lasted less than a year in the job.
Watford, too, have had an alarming turnover of managers in the Pozzo era with Vladimir Ivic, who replaced Nigel Pearson in August, the 12th appointment during their eight-year reign at Vicarage Road.
As a quality player approaching his peak years, De Paul is clearly an attractive proposition for Leeds. However, given the Pozzos’ hard-nosed reputation, Whites fans will have to be patient.
