![]()
![]()
![]()
After Cabella, Abdennour and Robertson arrived at Horsfall Stadium, Bradford PA have had to make ends meet with five massive sales.
The first player to leave was Australian midfielder
Josh Burns who joins Leeds United for a fee of £425,000.
Burns failed to make a single appearance for Avenue since joining the club in 2019. He arrived in West Yorkshire from the Australian Centre of Excellence - the same way first-team star Ben Blackmore arrived at Bradford.
However, the midfielder couldn't attain a work permit to play in England until this year, when Bradford found him surplus to requirements. He spent his time on loan to Barnsley where he only made one appearance last season. Leeds' officials must have seen something in the Australian as he joins them for a reasonable fee.
Miguel Layún found himself leaving England this summer as he joins Liga BBVA side Rayo Vallecano for a fee of £800,000.
The Mexican left-back was a pivotal part in Bradford PA's final promotion season after joining from Watford at the beginning of last season on a free transfer. Competing with Tony Cooke, Layún appeared 40 times in all competitions last season.
However at 32 years old, his move to Rayo will probably be his swansong move as he approaches the end of his playing career.
In Bradford Park Avenue's biggest received fee in their history,
Kelechi Iheanacho has completed a £7.5million move to Dutch giants AFC Ajax.
With Iheanacho arriving at Bradford in July 2019, he scored ten goals in twenty games for the then-Championship team. He worked well alongside legendary Matthew Fletcher with his great pace tearing defences apart.
He will now face the tough challenge of playing against the world's best in the UEFA Champions League for Ajax, with the club currently managerless, Ajax have rumoured to have even approached the manager who sold them the striker - Adam Chabukiani.
Following up to the large fee paid out by Ajax for Iheanacho, Brentford have paid their Premier League rivals Bradford £6.5million for their talented winger
Jordan Graham.
Graham was excellent in his first season at the club in League One - he bagged the most assists award that season with an incredible tally of 23 in 37 league games. This came as a shock to Wolves fans who had rarely seen him play.
Under Chabukiani, Graham earned his first Republic of Ireland caps due to such great form under the Georgian. In a recent interview following Avenue's Championship title win, Graham admitted that he owes most of his career to Chabukiani's talent and encouragement.
Graham has now paid that gratitude back in his contribution to the team over the two seasons he was at Horsfall Stadium, as well as the fee that Brentford paid for the Irishman.
Finally, the last permanent move out of Bradford at the moment is the £2.2million that Derby County have paid for Avenue skipper
Matty James.
With Kasjusz Piwowarczyk leaving the club after the League Two promotion campaign, it was brand new free transfer Matty James who took the captains armband from the Polish centre-back.
From then on, the former Leicester and Manchester United midfielder made 84 appearances in all competitions throughout the League One and Championship phase, captaining the team to title glory both times.
Claiming that Chabukiani was up there with the likes of his former boss Sir Alex Ferguson went to show how well the Bradford boss' player management is over at Horsfall Stadium, creating an overall family feel to the club according to the 28-year-old.
In terms of temporary departures away from the club,
Roger Pursehouse has gone on loan to Alfreton for the fourth consecutive season. New Brazilian signing
Neto has gone on loan to Mexican side CD León. New Portuguese signing
José Carlos Monteiro Bessa has gone on loan to Bradford's official feeder club Ebbsfleet.
The most surprising departures are former first-team regulars
Tony Cooke and
Kyle Williams going out on season-long loans to Ipswich Town and Sunderland respectively.
