The Yorkshire Post are claiming that the current owners blocked the purchase of Ashley Barnes from Brighton and Hove Albion, which contradicts an assurance that David Haigh has given to the supporters trust.

According to the post, Leeds had agreed a fee of £500,000 for Barnes, but “individuals with Gulf Finance House (GFH), the parent company of Leeds’ majority shareholder GFH Capital, objected to the signing”, so the striker has moved to Burnley instead. As the sale to the new consortium still hasn’t gone through, the Bahraini company is still the owner of the club.

Haigh’s new group claim to have already invested around £6m into the club prior to the turn of the year, and that further transfer funds were available to Brian McDermott, but if it’s true that Leeds failed to complete a deal that one source claimed was “as good as done”, then there could be some sort of dispute between the two groups over the final details of the takeopver.

Yet Haigh has promised LUST that “Brian McDermott has funds available for players he wants, is able to deal in the transfer market without hindrance during the takeover, and that in effect it is 'business as usual' while completion is achieved.”

In a meeting with LUST Chairman Gary Cooper, Haigh also responded to concerns from the fans about the length of time the takeover is taking to complete, saying the money to complete the deal is in place, that the Football League have been very helpful, and that all that remains is "crossing a few 'Ts' and dotting a few 'Is.'"

After the failure to land Ashley Barnes, McDermott is now likely to try to sign Adam Le Fondre, who has played for our manager before and earned himself a ‘supersub’ reputation last season with Reading in the Premier League. With Matt Smith’s three match ban now confirmed, McDermott might need a new target man to get on the end of the crosses supplied by the two new wingers.

Luke Varney might have got a game in the next three matches, bearing in mind his ability in the air, but he is likely to be joining Blackpool as he goes in search of first team football. So we’ll just have to hope that the new consortium can get the takeover deal over the line before the transfer window slams shut, so we can be certain that Brian McDermott is able to get the players he needs.

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