How Paul Gascoigne almost signed for Leeds United
In true ‘Gazza’ style, a wisecrack is not too far away either – one that can only be aired after the ‘watershed’ mind – but it is also accompanied by a sense of what might have been.
Back in the close season of 1995, Leeds called, as did Glasgow Rangers and Chelsea and if things had been different, the most gifted midfielder of his generation could have been playing in front of the Gelderd End as opposed to the Govan Stand.
What a delicious thought that would have been.
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Hide AdIt was a move which got close. Director Bill Fotherby, the Elland Road deal-maker entrusted with bringing in some stardust to Leeds amid the largely fallow post-Cantona era, surreptitiously headed over to Italy to speak with Gascoigne’s club Lazio.
Over dinner, Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti told Fotherby that he would do a deal, while imploring him not to tell a soul that Leeds were in for Gazza.