Leeds United have been prone to signing major flops – seen in the stinging example of Brenden Aaronson just last season – with the Massimo Cellino era at Elland Road notable for the amount of duds that entered Elland Road in quick succession.
The outspoken former Whites chairman bankrolled a number of expensive misfires during his turbulent three-year span as owner, with the current Brescia face buying a number of imports from his native Italy who would never settle in West Yorkshire.
This former centre-back purchased using the might of Cellino back in 2014 was yet another major flop from the circus Leeds became under the now 67-year-old, brought into the building alongside a familiar face in Liam Cooper but never becoming a captain-like figure like the current Whites man.
Giuseppe Bellusci's transfer to Leeds
Costing the Whites around £1.6m to secure his services from Catania a decade ago – after initially joining on loan – Giuseppe Bellusci would join Leeds at a time where the playing squad was being taken over by an influx of exciting yet unknown Italian talents.
Bellusci would step into Elland Road in the same transfer window that Souleymane Doukara would follow suit from Catania, alongside the likes of Marco Silvestri, Mirco Antenucci and Gaetano Berardi all also joining from far and wide in Italy to play for the Whites.
Whilst the last name in that extensive list would go on to be adored by the Leeds masses – with Berardi retiring in West Yorkshire under Marcelo Bielsa after playing 157 games for Leeds – Bellusci would never quite be embraced in the same way by his new set of supporters.
The hot-headed centre-back would accumulate 61 games in total for the Whites over two dramatic campaigns, which saw the eccentric Italian have a horror-show debut for Leeds away to Watford to start his time in England on the worst possible footing.
Bellusci's cursed time with Leeds
Losing 4-1 away at Vicarage Road in his first match in Leeds white, the ex-Catania man would score an own-goal and pick up a red card all from a calamity-filled 57-minute spell in Hertfordshire.
1. GK – Marco Silvestri
2. RB – Sam Byram
3. CB – Giuseppe Bellusci
4. CB – Jason Pearce
5. LB – Stephen Warnock
6. RM – Luke Murphy
7. CM – Rodolph Austin
8. CM – Tommaso Bianchi
9. LM – Michael Tonge
10. ST – Mirco Antenucci
11. ST – Billy Sharp
Sent off alongside a much younger Sam Byram, who was a bright homegrown spark for Leeds at the time during his first spell with the club, it's fair to say the current Whites number 25 is far more popular to this day than the accident-prone Bellusci.
Bellusci would bow out of Leeds on a real sour note in the end, which started during his debut season when the Italian centre-back was pulled out of a starting XI against Charlton Athletic under the bumpy reign of Neil Redfearn, owing to a mysterious and unnamed injury.
Naming it as a "freakish set of events" in an interview by Redfearn at the time, which saw the likes of the aforementioned Doukara and Antenucci also pull up with coincidental knocks alongside the defender before the clash with the Addicks, Bellusci's relationship with the club would only grow more toxic until his permanent exit in 2017 to Palermo.
Defended as being a "strong character" by the outspoken Steve Evans during his brief tenure at Elland Road, not a single Leeds fan would have shed any tears when the Whites finally got rid of Bellusci after a topsy-turvy time in West Yorkshire culminated in the divisive defender being booed during a pre-season friendly before his contract was ripped up.
Leeds, with hindsight on their side after the scandalous Cellino era was up, would have cursed their decision to sign the former £1.6m buy with his pay packet also burning a hole in the Whites' back pocket.
Offering up spectacular moments like this free-kick every so often wouldn't even result in Bellusci ever going down as a much-loved if misunderstood star, with the now Ascoli man also earning more than Archie Gray is currently during his rough two-season stint to be remembered instead as a big waste of money.
Giuseppe Bellusci's wage at Leeds
By the standards of Daniel Farke's camp in the here and now, Bellusci's wage doesn't feel too outrageous especially when you examine that Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter both earn £70k-per-week.
But, his £8.5k-per-week would drain Leeds dry all the same when you weigh up all the costs put together from his pay packet over two shambolic seasons on top of his original £1.6m transfer cost.
In total, the Italian dud would cost the Whites £2.9m in costs overall when that money could have gone towards strengthening the back four at Leeds with better quality talent.
1. Stephen Warnock
£18k-per-week
2. Billy Sharp
£17.5k-per-week
3. Matt Smith
£15k-per-week
4. Luke Murphy
£14k-per-week
5. Granddi N'Goyi
£10k-per-week
Bellusci's wage, in the context of the time, was arguably a bumper salary when you scan the table above too – the 6 foot 1 centre-back earning just £2k-per-week less than Granddi N'Goyi during his debut season who was in the top five highest earners, with his salary only £10k-per-week off dependable former Whites full-back Stephen Warnock too.
As much as Rutter and Bamford rake in a substantial pay packet, 18-year-old Gray will feel harshly done by in the Whites camp now when assessing his meagre £5k-per-week salary next to Bellusci's wage.
Playing a crucial part in Leeds' big 3-1 win over Leicester City back in February, with his deflected effort on the night giving his boyhood club the lead, Gray has amassed 49 appearances this season and has left more of an impression on the Whites fans as a teenager than his £8.5k-per-week counterpart ever managed in the process.
Bellusci won't have sleepless nights wondering what he could have done differently with Leeds, however, and looks to be seeing out his career with little controversy back in his native Italy with Ascoli.
Leeds fans will just love having the likes of Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu in the heart of their defence under Farke, away from relying on disastrous signings to come good in a basket-case environment.
Leeds must now cash in on forgotten gem who is worth more than Bamford
Leeds United could look to make some profit on this forgotten man soon.
ByKelan SarsonMay 3, 2024