Well, it looks as if we have reached the end of an era.
Although given everything that surrounds it, perhaps it’s best to classify it as the end of an error instead.
According to a report from football.London, Eddie Nketiah is set to be recalled by Arsenal, with the Gunners set to send him out on loan again in hopes of him getting more first-team football. Nketiah has only managed a total of 618 minutes of first-team football at Elland Road, with only two starts in the League Cup and one in the Championship.
I said when he first arrived that I didn’t think he was going to be a good move, although that was more down to what I thought he could offer when you compare him to what Leeds were losing in Kemar Roofe. And although my view on him did change ever so slightly as the season progressed, there was always that little bit of doubt in the back of my mind as to whether or not we were handling him the right way.
Well now it looks as if I was right, except the blame now falls at someone else’s feet rather than on the young forward.
At the end of the day, it came across as though a lack of trust from Marcelo Bielsa was the main reason he wasn’t given the chance to flourish. When Patrick Bamford was going through his baron spell from the end of August until the start of November, that should have been the time when Nketiah was given his chance to prove that he could make up for Bamford’s shortcomings, but it just didn’t happen for him.
And on the subject of trust, this now makes two loan players in the space of a week who have been recalled due to a lack of minutes, with the other one being Jack Clarke. How do you think this is going to play out among other clubs when they consider where to send their loan players? Whilst Ben White and Jack Harrison have been given plenty of opportunities, the same opportunities aren’t being given to the other loan players.
Have we handled the Nketiah situation well?
Yes
No
And with the January transfer window just a few hours away, it could end up putting Leeds in an incredibly compromising position when it comes to bringing in Nketiah’s replacement.