Mht spillerne våre som faller mellom to stoler, ikke spiller på førstelaget og heller ikke (eller 'ferdig med') U21 kan ikke forsette å ha hverdagen sin slik. Leeds-Live nevner utlån i januar som et alternativ. Noen går kanskje permanent også.
Uansett, de er pr dato langt unna førstelaget (Shackleton er jo et nylig eksempel på at dette kan endre seg):
Dessverre er to av våre norske i denne kategorien...
Kristoffer KlaessonThe 22-year-old goalkeeper has not played for the first team since his debut in March 2022 at Molineux. It’s fair to say the pathway the Norwegian may have envisioned to regular starts has not materialised, though his sporadic under-21 outings have rarely inspired huge confidence.
There was talk of an exit in the summer window which never came to pass. With Meslier now reestablished and Karl Darlow waiting in the wings, there seems little sense in Klaesson sticking around when the window opens.
Mateo Joseph or Joe GelhardtIt’s difficult to imagine both being allowed a chance to find more minutes in January, but one of them certainly has a case for pursuing fresh opportunities on loan. Joel Piroe, Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter are all strikers Farke trusts to lead the line, so it seems a long shot for either Joseph or Gelhardt to feature in any meaningful way.
Neither of them has even been made available for the under-21 side as yet, leaving training matches to stop the rust setting in. It could come down to a coin flip on who gets a chance to stretch their wings, but as the senior, Gelhardt’s case may be more pressing.
Lewis BateThe 20-year-old’s contract expires next summer and he has never really had a concerted chance to show why he’s worth a new deal. His form with Oxford United last season began to impress, but the midfielder needed to be dominating games in League One to keep his Leeds chances alive.
It was a surprise Bate did not move in the summer and there is no chance he will be happy plugging away with the under-21s until May. A loan or permanent exit has to be highly likely in the New Year.
Darko GyabiThe former Manchester City midfielder has shown more frequent flashes of promise than Bate and there may be a little more resistance to losing him permanently in January. Gyabi really has run games at under-21 level to the extent fans have called for more senior opportunities.
However, pre-season and his disastrous 45 minutes against Shrewsbury Town only left the door open to midfield reinforcements like Glen Kamara and Ilia Gruev. In the Championship, after a raft of exits, this was supposed to be Gyabi’s breakthrough year, but it seems a million miles from that at this point.
French second-tier outfit Valenciennes pushed hard for him in the summer, but Gyabi was not understood to be keen at that stage. A January loan might just give Leeds a little more time to make their mind up on a talent whose contract does not expire until 2026.
Leo HjeldeAfter starting the first two games of the season, Hjelde can barely make Farke’s matchday squad now. The 20-year-old has not been involved on a matchday since making the bench on September 2 against Sheffield Wednesday.
Injury to Junior Firpo, the exit of Max Wober and Pascal Struijk’s use in the middle opened the early door for Hjelde at left-back. Unfortunately, the Norwegian struggled badly, not just in the league, but against lower-league opponents Shrewsbury and Salford City too.
Another loan in the second tier, as he had last season with Rotherham United, looks like the best solution for Hjelde going into 2024 unless Sam Byram and Firpo are laid low going into January.
https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-january-transfer-exits-27911077