I was forced by Leeds United to sign a transfer request and it made me look a bad guy
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would have loved to have prolonged his Leeds United stay. But the Dutchman has claimed the Whites forced him to sign a transfer request to leave Elland Road.
Hasselbaink moved to United in 1997 for a bargain £2m after a stint in Portugal with Boavista. The striker plundered 41 goals in two seasons before being snapped up by La Liga giants Atletico Madrid where he spent just one season.
“I was two years into a four-year contract at Leeds and I’d had two really good years at the club," recalled Hasselbaink on the latest episode of talkSPORT’s YouTube show The Line Up. "I wanted a new deal and they wanted to offer me a new one.
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“They didn’t offer me what I wanted to sign, though, and I think it was maybe done as a bit of a formality to show the fans they’d offered me something.
“George Graham, who had bought me into the club, left for Spurs and David O’Leary took over. He used to be the assistant manager and we had a few different opinions on certain things – he wanted to go a different way with different players.
“When it came to a new contract, they didn’t really negotiate and basically said if ‘you don’t sign on these terms, we’re not going to play you and you can go’. So I said ‘I’m going to go and find a new club’ but they said I could only do that if I signed a transfer request.
“In those days you didn’t get a signing-on fee or other things like that if you handed in a transfer request – but the club said I would get it all, so I went ahead and signed it.
“And then within five minutes of me signing it, the news came up on Sky Sports News which made me look like a bit of a bad guy. It was a sad way to end my time at Leeds as I really enjoyed my time at the club and I wanted to stay for longer.”
Hasselbaink went on to play for Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City before calling time on his career at the age of 36. Since hanging up his boots, he has enjoyed managerial stints at Royal Antwerp, Queens Park Rangers, Northampton Town and Burton Albion twice. He was also a valuable member of Gareth Southgate's England staff.
