Leeds United didn’t do much on domestic deadline day, but one thing that caught the attention was the return of Gaetano Berardi to the club.

The Swiss defender had been out of contract since the end of last season, but with an ACL injury keeping him out for the next nine months, it was unknown what the fate of his career would be.

Leeds have decided to support their man throughout these problems, signing him until the end of the season to help him through his rehabilitation, and that is just a brilliant gesture.

Let’s be real for a moment, Berardi isn’t likely to play for the club ever again. He’s out for the majority of this season and competition is rife at centre-back with Robin Koch, Diego Llorente and Liam Cooper all way ahead of him in the pecking order. But even if he doesn’t play a game, this was the right move to make.

Berardi did Leeds a massive favour by signing a short contract extension at the end of last season, but a cruel twist of fate saw him sidelined with a very serious injury, jeopardising any hopes he had of finding a new club after his deal expired.

The 33-year-old is Leeds’ longest-serving player, and if anyone at the club was deserving of this sort of treatment, it’s Berardi.

There are no two ways about it this contract is a waste of money. Leeds are employing Berardi to do a job he may never actually do, but there can’t be any complaints about them offering the defender support through his injury as well as some financial stability.

Everything is so uncertain at the moment in the midst of a pandemic, and while other clubs are laying off staff or putting them on furlough, Leeds are giving Berardi the help he needs even though it’s going to cost them.

It’s thousands of pounds down the drain, but it’s probably the best way any club can waste money.