Massimo Cellino ‘sells his remaining stake in Leeds United to co-owner Andrea Radrizzani’
MASSIMO CELLINO has sold his remaining stake in Leeds United to co-owner Andrea Radrizzani, SunSport understands.
Radrizzani bought 50 per cent of the Elland Road outfit in January, with an option to purchase the remainder at the end of the campaign.
But with the Whites' season all but over after failing to make the Championship play-offs, the two Italians are said to have agreed a multi-million pound deal last night.
The price of the remaining half of the club had to be agreed between media mogul Radrizzani and businessman Cellino dependent on which league they would be competing in next term.
The option for Cellino to leave for good had to be taken up before the end of June - and Radrizzani has decided to start planning for the future as sole owner early.
That has already got underway with the appointment of Ivan Bravo to the board of the club, having previously been head of strategy at Real Madrid for seven years.
And West Ham's managing director Angus Kinnear has also been recruited by Leeds to be their new chief executive.
most reads in football
Kinnear joined from Arsenal in 2013 to oversee the move of the Hammers from Upton Park to the London Stadium - having previously helped the Gunners transition from Highbury to the Emirates.
Despite these impressive appointments, a question mark still looms over boss Garry Monk, whose position is up in the air.
The run of bad results towards the end of the season which saw Leeds fall away may prompt Radrizzani to move into a different direction - but sources at Elland Road and close to the Italian say he is minded to offer Monk a new deal.
The new owner may want to distance himself from the multiple hirings and firings which characterised Cellino's stormy three-year reign - having sacked six managers before Monk's arrival last summer.
Cellino himself has barely been seen at the club since appealing a ban from football handed to him in February - his third since becoming Leeds owner.
He was adjudged to have breached FA agent regulations over striker Ross McCormack's sale to Fulham in 2014.
A Leeds United spokesman claimed a deal was in the offing but nothing had been completed as yet.