Yet another defender looks set to depart Leeds United this summer.
Football Insider are reporting that left-back Laurens De Bock has informed his agent that he wants to leave Leeds United, having deciphered that there is no future for him at the club.
We are slowly getting to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised if Marcelo Bielsa announced he was going to be playing with a 2-3-5 formation this year, and if I’m being honest I wouldn’t complain one bit. Stuff defending, each game finished 5-4, just hope you’re on the winning side.
De Bock joined Leeds in January of 2018, but didn’t have the most successful time, not being on the winning side in any of his seven appearances before eventually losing his place in the side. Then when Marcelo Bielsa was brought in last summer, he quickly found himself on the scrapheap and was sent on loan to KVO Oostende in Belgium, where he made 23 appearances in all competitions for them and scored two goals.
If a player wants to leave, then they should be allowed to leave, there’s no point keeping someone around that doesn’t want to be there.
De Bock is currently valued at £900k, but if Leeds can get that fee up to the £1m mark, then that will be pretty good business. But it’s only good business if you then invest it wisely. As the Pontus Jansson situation has shown us, it’s all well and good getting rid of a player, but if you don’t have someone lined up to replace them, then you can find yourself in a whole heap of trouble, both on the pitch and subsequently with the fans.
If you look at the setup of the Leeds squad now, they are very much on the thin side when it comes to experienced Championship let backs. Once you get past Barry Douglas, it’s then a choice between Tom Pearce and Leif Davis who have a combined 11 league appearances between them.
If Douglas goes down for an extended period of time do you really want to put your faith in their hands? Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.