Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has told Yosuke Ideguchi that he has no future at Elland Road and will attempt to force through his sale this summer, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Ideguchi has never played for the Whites first-team in a competitive game, having joined Cultural Leonesa and then SpVgg Greuther Furth on loan in the year-and-a-half after joining United from his academy side Gamba Osaka in January 2018.
The United board are now in discussions with the J1 League outfit over a possible return for the 5 ft 6 midfielder, who we spent £500,000 on as he became our first every Japanese player by putting pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year deal.
Bielsa is thought to be hopeful that a deal can be reached in order to free up space on the wage bill, having ruled the 22-year-old out of his plans after he made just eight appearances for loan side Greuther Furth in the 2018/19 season.
Much like many of the players who spent the recent campaign at Elland Road, injuries scuppered Ideguchi’s best chances for minutes on the field, with a cruciate knee ligament rupture kicking off a string of injuries in October that resulted in seven months between appearances.
Ideguchi’s uncertain future in West Yorkshire was on the cards before his string of blows, though, as Greuther Furth held an option to buy the 12-cap international, but finances prevented the Bundesliga 2 side from fulfilling the clause in his loan agreement.
The fee of said clause has not been muted, and neither has the fee Gamba Osaka may be willing to pay, but TransferMarkt value Ideguchi at £630,000 – coincidentally £270,000 shy of their valuation at the time of his move to Leeds.
Parting ways with Ideguchi this summer is the best thing for all parties involved, though, as his unsuccessful stint with Leonesa showed he likely did not have what it takes to cut it in England, and also resulted in his exclusion from the Japan squad for last summer’s World Cup.
He still has years ahead of him if he can shake off the injuries which scuppered his time in Germany, and where better to take the cobwebs off your boots than where you made your name.