Despite love affair with the fans, Eddie Nketiah hasn’t been up to scratch this season – Opinion

I don’t think this is quite the way that he was supposed to get his big chance, but at least he got given one.

So when the teams were announced yesterday, there was something rather big staring us right in the face, and that was the fact that Eddie Nketiah was named in the starting line-up for the first time this season in the league. It’s since come out that part of that is down to Patrick Bamford coming down with a dead leg, although the consensus is that he could be back in the squad for the game against West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Day.

Back to Nketiah though, and is it just me that is slightly concerned with his levels of production so far this season? If you take a look at how fans responded to his post on Twitter in the aftermath of the game, you’d be led to believe that he is absolutely vital to Leeds’ promotion chances this season.

However, the stats don’t really back the fans up.

So far this season, he has only managed to produce three goals and one assist, and although this comes with somewhat limited opportunities off the bench, that he managed to go through more than 80 minutes yesterday without even registering a shot should be somewhat worrying.

I said at the start of the season that I was somewhat sceptical about us bringing in Nketiah on loan, and although I have gone through parts of the season where I think he might yet be some use to us, overall I think it’s fair to say that he has been relatively disappointing so far, despite the amount of hype that surrounds him with the fans.

Would it be fair to say that he blew his chance?

It might seem a little bit harsh to suggest, but with so much talk surrounding his future at Elland Road, it could simply be a case of Nketiah not putting in good enough displays to convince the likes of Marcelo Bielsa to keep him around.

And with the January window fast approaching, the chance to bring someone in who might be able to do the job better than him might be too tantalising a prospect to turn down.