Joe Wainman reckons that Leeds paid slightly over the odds to bring Daniel James to Elland Road.

What happened with Daniel James this summer?

More than 30 months after his deadline day move collapsed back in January 2019 when he was at Swansea, the Welshman finally became a Leeds player at the second time of asking of August 31.

James had started two of United's three opening Premier League matches, but the signings of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo were going to make his opportunities extremely hard to come by.

With that in mind, around 48 hours after starting the Red Devils victory over Wolves, James made the £25m switch to Elland Road – becoming Marcelo Bielsa's fourth major signing of the window.

The fee Leeds paid for the 23-year-old took him into second in their all-time record arrivals list behind Rodrigo, following his £27m switch from Valencia last summer.

What did Wainman say about the fee?

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ENTER GIVEAWAY

Whilst he felt Leeds might have paid slightly too much, compared to other deals, he concluded that it was a fair price.

He told GIVEMESPORT: "It does seem a little bit high. But when you strip it back, the fact they paid £15m when they did. He is still very young.

"Look at the Joe Willock signing, he went for £25m, Emiliano Buendia went for more than that. Look at his age and the Premier League tax on top."

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Was £25m a fair price?

Whilst the fee might sound relatively steep for what is essentially a Manchester United squad player, James ticks more boxes than that.

Not only is James just 23-years-old, but he's already halfway to 50 in terms of international caps and was approaching 100 appearances for the Red Devils – chipping in with a creditable nine goals and nine assists.

James is far from the finished article and his end-product could do with improving, but as Wainman mentioned, when someone like Buendia is going for almost double that, and Joe Willock, with very little Premier League experience, is going for similar, £25m is a decent piece of business for both parties.

This is also a player that has racked up experience in both the Champions League, Europa League and has already represented Wales at a major tournament.