Daniel James may be loved at Manchester United, but he has revealed he hurled his phone down in anger when his move to Leeds fell threw.
James had agreed terms on a loan switch to Elland Road in January 2019 with a view to a £10million permanent move only for Swansea to pull the plug at the last minute.
Then chairman Huw Jenkins was unhappy with the terms of the transfer and six months later the Swans sold the Wales winger signed to United for £15million.
James recalled his huge disappointment from that deadline day, saying: “I got to Elland Road about 6pm, did all the pictures with my shirt, all the interviews, because they wanted it to go out in the morning. Then it was strange.
“It got to about 9pm and I’d signed all the papers and then it was from club-to-club. I had people texting me saying ‘what’s happening?’ and I literally didn't know.
“It wasn't until 15 minutes to go until I thought ‘this might not happen now’.
“I ended up ringing the chairman [of Swansea] to ask him what was happening. It was all a bit crazy. Then it wasn’t done and I threw my phone.
“I thought this isn’t real. The chief exec of Leeds wasn’t happy at the time, but then it was just a case of driving home. It was a very weird situation and I think it helped me in some ways.”
James got his United career of to a flying start this season when he scored on his debut against Chelsea.
He went on to score in three of his opening four games and then ended his seven-month long goal drought when he scored in United's Europa League game at LASK.
Sign up to the Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip.
