‘Interest in him is genuine’ – Graham Smyth makes Leeds January transfer claim
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth has said that unlike last summer, the interest in Leeds United attacker Tyler Roberts is “genuine” in this window.
And he claims that there is “definitely a possibility” of him going out on loan in January.
Roberts has only made two Premier League starts this season and was dropped from the squad for the last game against Tottenham. Talking after the game, Marcelo Bielsa merely said he was “unavailable”.
Football Insider has reported that a string of Championship clubs are interested in the striker.
Talking on the latest episode of the Inside Elland Road podcast, Smyth said, “Tyler Roberts, what to do about Tyler Roberts.
“There’s definitely a possibility of him going out on loan in January but I think it would have to be player-led. I don’t think it would be a case of Bielsa turning round and saying he has to go out on loan.
“But Tyler might feel he wants to play more regularly.
“There was talk of a move for him in the summer but that was largely baseless. This summer, the interest in him is genuine.
“We just haven’t seen enough of Tyler. We know there’s talent there, but the games I’ve seen of him in the Premier League he’s really struggled to make an impact.”
Leeds should hold onto him
Marcelo Bielsa reacted rather oddly when asked about why Tyler Roberts wasn’t in the squad for the Tottenham game.
He seemed to have a word with the Leeds media person before saying that Roberts was “unavailable”.
That’s led fans to think that he was either on the brink of a move out or that he might have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Roberts hasn’t moved anywhere yet but we will get a bigger clue on his future ahead of the Crawley game.
If he’s in the squad then the speculation might start to die down.
If he’s excluded from the squad again then we’d expect the reason to be addressed by Bielsa.
Personally, we’d like to see him stay. He hasn’t looked good this season but he’s still a young player and we need all the experience we can get for the second half of the season.
With Bielsa unlikely to bring a striker in this January, Roberts is the only senior back-up option up-front if Bielsa keeps playing Rodrigo in the number 10 position.
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