Confirmed: Leeds agree to pay fee for 25-year-old striker this summer
By Alex Stevens
Leeds will make two further payments to tie up the signing of Marcus Antonsson, it has been confirmed.
The Championship promotion hopefuls prised the striker from Swedish club Kalmar FF last summer in a deal reported to have cost £2million including add-ons.
Kalmar FF president Mattias Rosenlund revealed for the first time that his club reached an agreement with Leeds for the Antonsson fee to be made in three separate payments.
“[The] Antonsson affair is stated and done, the transaction is made in 2016,” Rosenlund told Swedish outlet Barometern. “We have got a third of the payment, we get the second in the summer and the third in December [2017].”
The revelation means Leeds spread the cost of what was one of only two £1million-plus transfers among the 11 players recruited by Garry Monk last summer.
Among the loans and free transfers was the Antonsson deal and the reported £3million spent to sign Kemar Roofe from Oxford.
However, the Antonsson signing is one of the few that has failed to reap dividends for the fourth-placed Championship side, who are pushing strongly for promotion.
Antonsson has not even made the substitute’s bench for seven of Leeds’ last eight matches even though he is fully fit and available for selection.
The 25-year-old has not had any league action since a late substitute appearance in the 3-0 win against Rotherham on 2 January, and has not scored in the Championship since October.
In total, Antonsson has made 21 appearances in all competitions for the Yorkshire giants this season but has scored just three goals, two of which came in the League Cup.
He has has struggled for game time due to the excellent form of main striker Chris Wood, who has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season and is the Championship leading scorer with 24.
The re-emergence of versatile forward Souleymane Doukara and the deadline day signings of Alfonso Pedraza and Modou Barrow have pushed Antonsson further down the Elland Road pecking order.
In other Leeds transfer news, the Yorkshire giants are in shock talks to sign a Liverpool attacking player.
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