With plenty of Leeds United fans showing concern when it comes to the contract situation of 15 goal striker Kemar Roofe, Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has revealed that as yet, the club and player aren’t yet passed the initial contract conversations and he certainly hasn’t yet been given a formal offer with his deal slowly winding down.
Speaking on the latest Inside Elland Road podcast, Hay stated that he felt Leeds would be under ‘pressure’ with three players – Roofe, Kalvin Phillips and Pontus Jansson – but at least in the case of Roofe, he’d be wanting greater parity with Patrick Bamford and Kiko Casilla if he was going to commit again.
“Is anyone going to be sold? The three I would imagine they’re going to be under pressure with, the first is Kemar Roofe and he’s almost down to his last 12 years and he’s in that position where he’s potentially one year away from being a free agent and being able to pick up a massive contract somewhere. For the club he’s a year away from being worth nothing, going without earning them a penny. Kalvin Phillips, after his performances it’s hard to think there won’t be any interest in him. And Pontus Jansson. Every summer we ask about Jansson. The state of play with Roofe is that he hasn’t had a contract offer, not a formal one. There was a plan to speak to him last October and in the Jan window but at this stage they’re quite far apart in terms of initial conversations. You can understand that. Roofe is on a fairly low level deal by Championship standards. He was signed in 2016 from Oxford when Cellino was owner. He’s a long way below Bamford and could make a decent argument for parity which would be a substantial pay rise. As yet I’m not aware of any bids but that’s the consequence of not going up.”
With confirmed growth off the pitch allied to our almost dominance of Sky Sports tv, I can’t imagine a fairer contract offer couldn’t be made to keep him with us that suited both parties that wouldn’t break the bank. Roofe has sounded happier in recent social media posts to sign a new deal after some early concern initially, but you’d have hoped the club would be moving quicker than this – although I guess we are dealing with the future of manager Marcelo Bielsa first and then we’ll get to players.
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