Phil Hay: Sentimentality one reason Pablo Hernandez was bombed out of Leeds by Marcelo Bielsa

Phil Hay has insisted that "sentimentality" was the enemy of Pablo Hernandez in his final season at Leeds United.

After throwing a strop when replaced against Leicester, the Spaniard found himself frequently left out by Marcelo Bielsa.

That led to Hernandez leaving at the end of the season and joining Castellon, with Hay sharing the reason behind him being overlooked.

Writing in his latest piece for The Athletic, Hay shared an intriguing snippet on El Mago and his failings last season.

"Sentimentality can be the enemy of progress, which is one reason Bielsa found himself overlooking Pablo Hernandez so often last season," he wrote.

Strange.

It was always such a head-scratcher seeing Hernandez being overlooked last season, especially with all of our injury problems.

Thankfully, it didn't end too sour despite Bielsa's decisions, and he was given the perfect send-off in that win over West Brom.

Mateusz Klich is nowhere near the hero status that Hernandez has, but he has been used as a comparison given the backing he has received after abuse led to his social media accounts on Twitter being deleted.

The Polish international is a hero in his own right, though, having played 92 consecutive games during the Championship years with Bielsa.

Klich is being overlooked at the moment too but is still being used off the bench so far, meaning that setinmentality doesn't look like his "enemy" yet.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites are ready to make major January signings with unexpected deals to force action