Beckford set to stick with Leeds

17 July 2009 15:49
Beckford, who fired 34 goals in all competitions for the League One outfit last season, was officially made available to other clubs when he refused to sign a new deal this summer. He was heavily linked to Coventry, Sheffield United and Newcastle but following a heart-to-heart with Leeds manager Simon Grayson, the 25-year-old will now stay at Elland Road for at least the remaining year of his current deal. Grayson said: "It's a situation that over the last few weeks we wanted to resolve. We have turned down bids for the player, which fall a long way short of our valuation of Jermaine. "We took a stance over the summer that we had to make it clear where we wanted to be as a football club, but Jermaine has come back and he's been ever so good in training and in games. "I had a chat with him and the chairman and we agreed it was the best thing for the club. It was an important situation to be dealt with. We showed our stance by turning the bids down and I don't want him to leave the club because he has proven over the last couple of years how successful he can be." Grayson added: "If he runs his contract down and he leaves on a free then we will have to run with that, but our ambition is to keep him, get promoted, and be successful. Good, quality strikers are a rare commodity. We want to keep our best players. The efforts he's put in have been first class and I'm sure we won't get anything less out of him." 2009-10 Season Specials 2009-10 Specials: League 1 Promotion 4/6

Source: Team_Talk