Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino has told Sky Sports that in-demand Sam Byram has rejected a new deal with the club. The outspoken Italian says he is ‘hurt’ and ‘deeply offended’ by the contract refusal.
22-year-old Byram has been linked with a move to the Premier League at the end of the season when his current deal at Elland Road expires. News of him refusing to sign a new deal with alert clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton according to The Express.
Cellino vented his fury at Byram in the interview, insisting that the youngster believes to move to a bigger club and that Leeds is ‘too small for him’,
“Sam Byram is the only one that maybe thinks Leeds is too small for him.
He maybe thinks he deserves to be in a bigger team and a bigger club, and maybe he’s right. But when I hear a player from Leeds, with his agent, that he thinks that Leeds is not big enough for him, that he wants something bigger, I felt really embarrassed.
He didn’t sign the new contract and he won’t sign it anymore. He’s been offered a contract a few times, he didn’t want to sign and I am deeply offended.”
Although Byram has seemingly indicated that his future lies away from the club, Cellino insists that he won’t be sold in January and that no club has declared any interest in him up until this point,
“I don’t think anybody has been asking for him and I’m not selling anyone.
I didn’t sell anyone in the summer and I’m not selling anyone in January. We are not the richest club in England but we do not need anything from anyone.”
Byram is expected to be a part of the Leeds squad for their game this Sunday when they travel to high-flyers Middlesbrough in a match televised on Sky Sports. It remains to be seen if news of Byram not signing a new deal will affect his place in the starting line-up or his relationship with the supporters.
