Sonny Perkins has played final game for Leeds United after transfer announcement

Leeds United forward Sonny Perkins could have played his last game for the club after making a loan move in the final year of his contract.

BBC Radio Leeds commentator Adam Pope posted on X after it was announced that Perkins would join Leyton Orient on a season-long loan, reminding fans that the 20-year-old's contract expires in 2025.

Perkins will therefore see out the final year of his contract at Elland Road playing in League One with Orient, having appeared just once for Daniel Farke's side in the Championship last season.

The striker, signed on a free transfer from West Ham in 2022, did head out on a similar loan to Oxford United last August, but returned in January 2024 following a lack of game time for the U's [club website, 3 January].

Leeds United and Sonny Perkins look set to part ways

Despite arriving on a free transfer (plus compensation) amidst a huge summer overhaul, there was still plenty of hype surrounding Perkins when he pitched up at Elland Road in 2022 [Yorkshire Evening Post, 18 July 2022].

West Ham were loathe to lose their academy product, who rejected a contract offer in order to join the Whites, but Perkins has never really made the breakthrough many expected in his two seasons so far.

An injury-time equaliser at Cardiff City in the FA Cup was as good as it got for Perkins in his first campaign, but that came in one of just three appearances - and he's made a solitary one since.

The fact he managed just six appearances and a single goal in the first half of last season at Oxford suggests that even League One might be difficult for Perkins to establish himself, but that's something he'll be looking to change with Leyton Orient [Paul Robinson, 28 February].

Regardless of how well Perkins' loan spell at Brisbane Road fares next season, we're unlikely to see him in the white shirt again, marking the end of a disappointing spell engulfed in the chaos of Premier League relegation and two attempts at Championship promotion.

In other Leeds news, a clause has emerged as the Whites want to sign a new double-winning attacker.

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