Marcelo Bielsa accuses 20-year-old of ‘underestimating’ Leeds in passionate rant
It’s safe to say that the loan experience of striker Eddie Nketiah at Leeds United didn’t work out in the way that anybody wanted.
The young Englishman spent the first half of the season at Elland Road on loan from Premier League giants Arsenal, but was recalled last month after falling out of favour with Marcelo Bielsa.
The Argentine seemed to have some aversion to playing the 20-year-old from the start, despite him netting five times by the end of October.
Ultimately you trust the manager in this situation, particularly when the manager in question is one as accomplished as Bielsa.
It appears, however, that the man himself doesn’t feel that he has been given sufficient backing and support for the way he acted in relation to Nketiah.
He addressed the issue at his pre match press conference on Thursday, in what was an explosive meeting with the media.
“Nketiah arrived here because Leeds was the ideal place to grow, because it was me who was going to coach him,” he said, as per the Evening Standard.
“I know who I am and I don’t believe those messages. Everything around the transfer of Eddie was a lie, Nketiah came to play. In any way. He didn’t play and he left.
“But even worse, because I, in two situations, I put [Patrick] Bamford on the bench and in two months he was with us, he wasn’t able to play.
“Players do preseason. One player in six months plays two matches, thinks he will arrive to one club and play is underestimating what Leeds is as a club, a team and an institution.”
You can sort of see both sides of this one. Bielsa is obviously frustrated because he feels that Nketiah and Arsenal should have been more patient, rather than expecting abundant game time right off the bat.
However, he should also be admitting that he probably didn’t give the young Gunner the amount of league starts (two) that his performances deserved.
For Arsenal, they loaned Nketiah out to play and because they thought he’d improve under a manager like Bielsa. Perhaps they were also being slightly naive with that line of thinking, though.
They had to realise that the Argentine has his own way of doing things and won’t sacrifice that to placate a loan player’s demand for playing time.
This has turned into quite the unsavoury situation. However, Leeds have a new frontman in Jean-Kevin Augustin now, so hopefully we can all move on from the Nketiah fracas now.
In other Leeds United news, Bielsa is reportedly ready to bring a four-time title winner to Elland Road.