Former Leeds United chairman takes partial credit for next step on Elland Road journey after promotion
Ex-Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani says plans to develop Elland Road which were recently made public were in the works 'four or five years ago'.
Italian businessman Radrizzani spent six years at Leeds, funding the club's promotion back to the Premier League in 2020. However, he was still in control of the club when the Whites succumbed to relegation, for which he received flak and mismanagement accusations from sections of the fanbase.
In a new interview with Sky Sports, Radrizzani has acknowledged there were errors made during the latter part of his Elland Road premiership, but he feels with the team back in the top flight, he can finally return to Leeds as a fan.
"It is a big release for me because, honestly, I had a very traumatic and difficult exit and finally I feel now that destiny adjusted everything and I can come back to Leeds soon," Radrizzani said.
More recently, Leeds have agreed the purchase of land adjacent to Elland Road which will facilitate the expansion of the club's stadium, increasing capacity to 53,000 by 2030.
Radrizzani says plans were in place to make this a reality during his time as club chairman, due to his partnership with existing majority shareholder 49ers Enterprises, who held a minority stake until 2023 when they absorbed Radrizzani's share and assumed control.
"I think they [49ers] have the resources, they have the capacity and the knowhow to take the club where it deserves. The new stadium will help - it was already planned before. I think the project is still the same, as discussed for four or five years together with Paraag [Marathe] and the group because we were already partners.
"It has been unfortunately delayed for a couple of years, and I pay the consequences of this delay, but now they can take back the route and the direction to bring back Leeds as a medium top club, I hope a top club and back to Europe one day."
Stadium redevelopment has been one of the 49ers' primary goals since becoming primary decision-makers at Elland Road and this week supporters were given the opportunity to view publicly-available documents and new imagery with artist impressions of what the enhanced Elland Road could look like.
Radrizzani relinquished his grip on his Leeds holding almost two years ago and has since explored club ownership in Italy with Serie B club Sampdoria, whom he is no longer involved with. He says, however, his ties to the Whites remain deep-rooted.
"I became a Leeds fan, my family, my brother, my nephew, my son also supports Leeds. They don't have a team in Italy, they suffer every weekend when Leeds play and we can't wait to go back to the stadium. So this is in our blood now and we keep going with that."