Phil Hay praises former Leeds star Alex Mowatt
Former Leeds United player Alex Mowatt is in fine form for Barnsley and that has sparked praise from The Athletic’s Phil Hay.
The academy product spent four years at Elland Road and was named Player of the Year in 2014/15.
His career has been inconsistent since then with a year spent in League One in 2018/19, but he appears to be getting back to his best.
Hay commented on the midfielder after Barnsley stretched their winning run to six games
“Bubbling away at Barnsley. Pleased for Mowatt who was always a good player,” said Hay.
Mistake to let him go?
It is always nice to see our academy products doing well in their career.
We always liked Mowatt, as does Hay, and are glad he is beginning to live up to the talent he displayed when he first emerged at the Whites.
The midfielder bagged a freekick against QPR on Wednesday and has been in superb form this term.
Mowatt now has 12 goal contributions in 32 games with 1.2 key passes per game, according to WhoScored.
A return of 1.7 tackles per game also shows he helps out defensively, and if it was not for an unimpressive 67% pass accuracy he could be a Bielsa-type player.
Nevertheless, with the Tykes going strong in the Championship there is a small possibility that we will see Mowatt at Elland Road next season.
We have obviously done brilliantly since his departure but we wish Mowatt had not left 18 months before Bielsa came in.
It would have been interesting to see what the Argentine thought of him and how he would have slotted in alongside Kalvin Phillips in 2018/19.
Hopefully, his form encourages us to give extra time to our youngsters now, particularly Jamie Shackleton who has been in and out of the side.
In other Leeds United news, Last man standing – MOT View: Leeds ace must use break to recover before West Ham clash.