The Welsh winger was left angry after missing out on a move to the Whites prior to his arrival at the Theatre of Dreams
Manchester United attacker Daniel James revealed his anger when a move from Swansea City to Leeds United fell through in “crazy” fashion last year.
James, 22, was on the verge of joining Leeds in January 2019, just months before his switch to Old Trafford .
The 10-time Wales international said he had agreed to head to Leeds before the move fell through as the window closed.
“I got to Elland Road about 6pm, did all the pictures with my shirt, all the interviews, because they wanted it to go out in the morning, and then it was strange,” James told former Swansea team-mate Kenji Gorre on the Living The Dream podcast.
“It got to about 9pm and I’d signed all the papers and then it was from club-to-club. I had people texting me saying, ‘What’s happening?’ and I literally didn’t know. It wasn’t until 15 minutes to go until I thought, ‘This might not happen now.’
“I ended up ringing the chairman [of Swansea] to ask him what’s happening. It was all a bit crazy and then it wasn’t done. I threw my phone.
“I thought it’s not real. The chief exec of Leeds wasn’t happy at the time, but then it was just a case of driving home. It was a very weird situation and I think it helped me in some ways.”
James ended up finishing the season with Swansea before joining Manchester United for a reported £15 million ($19m) in June 2019.
He had scored four goals in 37 games in all competitions for United before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
James admits he is still coming to terms with the fact that he is a Manchester United player , with a ‘surreal’ few months resulting in him ending up at Old Trafford.
He told NBC Sports on United showing interest and his subsequent signing: “I can’t remember the exact place I was but I know it was a time near the end of the season.
“It was only talk at the start so I didn’t really believe it to be honest. I still don’t believe it now!
“It was a mad time – I was enjoying my time at Swansea, we had a good end to the season and tried to push for the play-off spots but we didn’t end up getting them.
“To hear that Manchester United were interested was surreal for me because it was my first year in senior football.
“The year before I’d went out on loan and not played so it was just surreal and at the first moment I didn’t believe it.”
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