Luke Murphy has joined Bolton Wanderers on a two-year deal shortly after being released on a free by Leeds United.
What’s the story?
The 28-year-old has been at Leeds since he joined from Crewe Alexandra in 2013 and was a regular in the side until he suffered a number of serious injuries.
The midfielder made 103 Championship appearances for Leeds, scoring seven goals before he was loaned out to Burton Albion for the second half of the 2016/17 season and the whole of the following season.
Murphy had one year left on his contract but it was clear he was not part of new manager Marcelo Bielsa’s plans, particularly after he was not given a shirt number for the upcoming season.
He was released by the club and has now signed a deal with fellow Championship side Bolton.
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Interesting move
It’s fair enough that Murphy wasn’t in Bielsa’s plans as he looks to clear out some of the dead wood in the Leeds squad.
However, it does seem strange that Leeds didn’t try to sell him and raise some funds, particularly if there was clear interest judging by the speed at which he was snapped up.
Bolton obviously weren’t willing to pay a fee but surely another club would have paid something which would at least give Leeds some sort of return on the player.
He’s not a huge loss to the club after having spent the past year and a half out on loan and fans will be pleased that Bielsa’s squad reinvention is truly taking place.
