Looks like the summer window is coming back to haunt us.
Given the EFL rules on how many loan players are allowed in a matchday squad, it’s been hard for Marcelo Bielsa to get the balance right, quite often leaving a player like Jack Clarke completely out of the team. However, even those who find themselves in the eighteen on match day can find themselves somewhat frozen out. And it’s those men that have caught the eye of former Premier League forward Darren Bent, in particular though Helder Costa and Eddie Nketiah.
Speaking to FootballInsider, Bent said:
“They’re definitely going to be knocking on his door and they’re going to be asking questions sooner or later. What you don’t want to happen is, yeah, they want to play but they’re not using them enough, they lose their heads and mentally, they’re gone.”
Now it’s not exactly rocket science to work out that Bent has a point, but I feel it needs to be pointed out as often as possible. Now that you’ve got someone in the media saying it, rather than just us fans on various websites, hopefully it will be able to get through to Bielsa a lot easier.
I have spoken before about how Nketiah needs to get more game time, and how a change in formation or style could be the way to do that. But how does Costa force his way into the team? His record in the Championship shows just how valuable he is, but who makes way for him? You can’t drop Pablo Hernandez after his start to the season, and if you drop the on loan Jack Harrison, you’re basically back to square one.
Lucky this question comes up during the international break, it will give Bielsa some time to think things through, but he had better come up with a solution sharpish, or he’s going to be left with a few disgruntled players for the remainder of the season.
What do you think? Do you think that things are just fine as they are? Or do you think that Costa and Nketiah need to be given far more minutes than they are currently getting?