Rodrigo Moreno is officially a Leeds United player after the club confirmed his club-record signing on their official pages on Saturday.
The West Yorkshire outfit recently ended their 16-year absence from the Premier League when they won the 2019-20 Championship campaign and were consequently fined for excessive celebrations when their promotion was confirmed.
Rodrigo had agreed on a deal with Leeds United for a club-record fee of £27m during the week, and the transfer has been made official with a tweet by The Whites confirming his arrival.
The transfer breaks their previous record which had stood for 20 years when Leeds bought defender Rio Ferdinand for the sum of £18m from West Ham in 2000.
✍️ #LUFC are delighted to announce the signing of Rodrigo from Valencia for a club record transfer fee
— Leeds United (@LUFC) August 29, 2020
Under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United have made steady progress, and they have been strengthening in a bid to make an impact on the English top-flight.
Rodrigo’s arrival at Elland Road would help boost their chances in attack and speaking of his new club, the Spaniard said: ”I’m very excited to join, as soon as I spoke with Victor, I knew I wanted this challenge.”
The 29-year-old begun his professional career with Real Madrid but failed to break into the senior team and left Spain in 2010 with a transfer to Benfica, spending the next five years in the Portuguese capital, scoring 45 goals in 120 matches and winning four major trophies.
Another six years were spent at Valencia and it was here that Rodrigo Moreno established himself in the Spanish top-flight and became a regular with the national team and won the 2019 Copa del Rey with Los Che.
This transfer to Leeds United would mark a return to the Premier League, having spent the 2010-2011 season on loan with Bolton Wanderers.
Rodrigo Moreno sale latest indictment on troubled Valencia
The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching implications on not just the footballing world, but the entire globe at large and the absence of revenue from stadium attendance and broadcasting deals has seen major clubs’ financial returns take a huge plummet.
However, some clubs have been harder-hit than most and there are not many top-flight clubs who are in as much of a financial disaster as Valencia.
The LaLiga outfit have been rocked by one scandal after another in recent years and it is generally believed that the club have regressed under the ownership of business magnate Peter Lim (who bought majority shares in the club in May 2014).
Last season, the club finished a disappointing 9th on the final league standing, meaning that they would miss out on European football in the coming campaign, further draining their already diminished sources of income.
The club is staring at a genuine threat of bankruptcy and in a bid to soften the economic blow, Valencia have taken to selling off their key players, with no fewer than four major first-team players departing in the last few weeks.
Francis Coquelin and former captain Dani Parejo have joined league rivals Villarreal, with the latter incredibly being allowed to leave for free, while Ferran Torres also joined Manchester City for the sum of just £21m (a ridiculously low amount given the winger’s abilities).
In the last one year, Rodrigo Moreno was seriously courted by both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, while he also played a starring role in helping Spain secure qualification for Euro 2020, showing how highly he is regarded within Spain.
For Valencia to have sold him for just £27m, it would increase the feeling of discontent that fans of the club currently feel towards the management.
