Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Man Utd has pushed the 23-year-old Wales international down the pecking order and, already a fringe player, he has been moved on to the Elland Road side.
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While the Red Devils have been active in terms of signing players, including Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, James is the first major outgoing of their transfer window.
It is understood that his transfer fee is £25m, plus £5m in add-ons.
James arrived at Man Utd from Swansea for £16m in 2019 but struggled to convince at Old Trafford, despite a bright start. In his first 19 Premier League games for the club, he scored three goals (all netted in his first four outings) and laid on another seven assists. In his subsequent 31 games, he has managed only three goals and no assists.
However, he still falls dramatically short of the £30m price that Leeds have paid him.
Convert that £30m value into euros and the Elland Road club have paid €35m for the winger. Our algorithm, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game date points and takes into account external factors such as age and contract expiry date, suggests that he is only worth €23.3m.
Given Man Utd’s work in the transfer window so far this summer, it comes as little surprise that they have got a good deal here.
They have been very shrewd in the market, buying Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo all well under their market values.
Leeds must hope that they have seen something that the statistics have not picked up if they are to get their money’s worth from James, whose two years at Man Utd have largely been underwhelming.
