Leeds learn hard lesson from Kewell fiasco

LEEDS chairman Professor John McKenzie claims he has learned his lesson from the Harry Kewell transfer fiasco – with a warning for the rest of the club’s stars.

McKenzie’s fingers were burned over the summer as Kewell, who had a year to run on his Leeds contract at the time, joined Liverpool for a bargain £5million after the Australia international refused to sign a new deal.

McKenzie was effectively held to ransom by Kewell’s agent, Bernie Mandic, who was reported to have pocketed £2million from the highly-controversial move.

The problem for McKenzie and predecessor Peter Ridsdale was that the longer Kewell stalled the more his transfer value plummeted, resulting in Leeds being forced to accept a cut-price figure which had supporters fuming.

Reds winger Kewell, who faces his former team-mates at Anfield for the first time tomorrow since quitting Leeds, would comfortably have commanded a fee of at least £10-15million 12 months before he eventually moved on.

But McKenzie explained: “The problem with Kewell is if you have somebody approaching a Bosman and who says they won’t sign a realistic new contract, then you’ve got to see what money you can get at that time.

“That is against what you would get if they wanted to go with something like three years on their contract.

“If we’d had a longer contract (with him) and he hadn’t been so determined to go then clearly we would have got a better price.”

Whether Leeds should have either tied Kewell down to a new contract or moved him on is open to conjecture, but McKenzie reckons he knows what to do in the future in a similar situation.

“If a player is not prepared to sign a long-term commitment to the club 18 months before the end of their contract, then you have to look seriously as to whether they go then.”