Huddersfield Town chairman Phil Hodgkinson on rejecting four offers from Leeds United for Lewis O'Brien

O'Brien was linked with a move to Elland Road throughout the close season and the subject of several bids, according to Hodgkinson and while Town's resolve was tested, they held firm - and turned down a fourth and final offer, a financial package worth £13m.

Speaking to the BBC and Yorkshire Live, he said: “To be honest with you, it wasn’t anything to do with the valuation. The fourth offer we rejected was £13m.

“The issue was not the valuation, the issue was the structure of the offer, so what I have to consider, having spoken to Lewis, (was) Lewis wanted to play football, that’s what Lewis wants to do, which is fantastic to hear.

“From my perspective, it’s about how much of that £13m is guaranteed, it’s about how much of it is add-ons and what those add-ons are made up of.

“It’s also about how much cash you’re getting through the door because we were under no illusion and we were looking at replacing Lewis.

“We would have been paying out seven figures, significant seven figures, to replace Lewis, and coming out of Covid we had to make sure the cash we got through the door covered what we had to pay out to replace Lewis.

“So the reality was it wasn’t the amount, £13m was the fourth offer we rejected, it was the structure we rejected.

“It didn’t work for us as a football club, and my concern was the fact Leeds wouldn’t go up to a structure we wanted, which was a reasonable one. Even the player’s agent said so."