Leeds confirm Pablo Hernandez & Gaetano Berardi exits

Leeds United have confirmed that both Pablo Hernandez and Gaetano Berardi will leave the club at the end of the season, having spent five and seven years at Elland Road respectively.

Both players played significant roles in getting Leeds back into the Premier League in 2020 after a 16-year absence from the top flight.

Hernandez arrived from Al-Arabi in Qatar in 2016, having previously spent two years in the Premier League with Swansea. The veteran Spaniard became a cult hero among Leeds fans and scored nine goals en-route to topping the Championship table last season.

He turned 36 last month and knocks early this season have resulted in him playing only a small part since promotion. Hernandez has started only twice in the Premier League, while he has made just two substitute appearances since February.

The player still has another year left on his contract but the time is right to part company.

Swiss defender Berardi arrived in West Yorkshire from Sampdoria in 2014. He has played over 150 games for Leeds but suffered an ACL injury towards the end of last season that ruled him out of most of this one until the end of February.

32-year-old Berardi has since returned to the matchday squad but spent most of the last three months as an unused substitute while he simultaneously built up his fitness playing Under-23 games. He made his first senior appearance of the season as a half-time substitute in Tuesday night’s Premier League win over Southampton at St Mary’s.

Berardi’s contract with Leeds expires next month and it is not being renewed.

Both players will have the opportunity to bid farewell to fans at Elland Road on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday, with up to 10,000 allowed in following the latest round of coronavirus restrictions being relaxed at the start of this week.

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