Burnley Striker Chris Wood Claims He Didn't Refuse to Play for Leeds to Force Through Move

Chris Wood has attempted to clear up the some of the ill-feeling that shrouded his £15m departure from Leeds United to Burnley this summer, by claiming that a decision not to play for his old club while the move was still ongoing was 'out of his hands'. 

On August 21 Chris Wood penned a 4-year deal for Burnley in a transfer that saw the New Zealand forward make the switch to the Premier League. Two days before the transfer went through, Wood was ruled out of out of Leeds' 2-0 away victory to Sunderland. 

However, Wood has told The Independent that it wasn't a case of him refusing to play for his former club. 

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Wood said: "Nobody understands that the bid Burnley put in was subject to me not playing against Sunderland. And everybody thinks that I refused to play. But it was out of my hands.

"The bid went in at 3pm on the Friday and got accepted at 5pm on the Friday. It was completely out of my hands whether I played or not.

"Burnley took that out of the equation, because they didn’t want the worst to happen.

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"They said they’d like me to stay there so it doesn’t upset the team, they could focus on the Sunderland game, without people from the outside world thinking why they had got rid of a player the day before the game."

Wood also revealed that he only had his mind set on a top flight team and never held talks over elongating his stay at Elland Road, despite his impressive goal-scoring record in the Championship.

"It was never on my agenda, to sign a new contract. At the time I was still holding out hope for a Premier League club," he added.

"A new deal could have been discussed when the transfer window closed."

Since moving to Burnley, the New Zealand international has scored two in five in the Premier League and will go head to head with international teammate Winston Reid when the Clarets welcome West Ham to Turf Moor on October 14.