Leeds United fell foul of the boardroom wrangles at Swansea City when trying to sign winger Daniel James, according to Leeds United managing director Angus Kinnear.

The Whites pursued the 21-year-old through the transfer window, but failed in their bid to sign him at the eleventh hour. Since then, Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has resigned and it is that reshuffle that Kinnear points to as a major reason for the move collapsing.

He began by telling of his pleasure at the early business, before addressing the James issue.

“While the January window began brightly by securing the services of Kiko Casilla, it ended in rather bizarre circumstances when we became the unwitting victim of internal boardroom politics preventing several months of scouting and negotiation from coming to fruition," Kinnear wrote in the Leeds Utd matchday programme, as reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post.

He went on to attempt to appease supporters who feel that perhaps the business was left too late, facilitating a collapse due to the hurried nature of deadline day.

“Supporters have asked why the deal was left so late in the window, which ultimately is the prerogative of the selling club, and why there were no alternative options in place. This is down to a combination of the exacting standards Marcelo and Victor applied to selecting players that could immediately improve the current squad and the limited talent pool that is made available in the January transfer window."

James was at Elland Road last night, coming off after an underwhelming display as his side went down 2-1. The result leaves Swansea in 12th, seven points outside the to six, whilst it saw Leeds return to the top of the table by a single point.

The Verdict

There does seem to be issues at board level at Swansea, not just with Jenkins leaving but also the Supporter's Trust dispute. It's likely that did contribute to the move breaking down, but if they'd been able to get a deal done a week earlier those problems could have been ironed out.

Such is the nature of deadline day, some deals get done and others do not. Leeds will move forward without James, but at present Swansea appear to be stagnating.