{{primary_category}}
{{/primary_category}} 
Reliable journo details who Leeds thought could replace Saiz but completely failed to do so
Many Leeds United fans were worried when Marcelo Bielsa opted to get rid of Samuel Saiz as before the Argentine’s arrival, he was arguably the best player at Elland Road.
Saiz, 29, made 58 appearances, scored 10 goals and supplied 12 assists in his time at Elland Road but for one reason or another, never really impressed Bielsa and was sent on his way by the Leeds boss with him now playing for Girona in Spain.
According to LeedsLive journalist Beren Cross, Leeds had hoped that Izzy Brown would fill the creative void left by Saiz once he was moved on.
However Brown completely failed to do that in his loan spell in West Yorkshire due to the number of injury issues he had.
Writing on the LeedsLive website, Cross said: “When Saiz first left the club on loan, the talk inside was of Izzy Brown as the replacement when he eventually got over his knee problem. As we now know, that just took too long and in the end he couldn’t turn Bielsa’s head enough to get a go in the side. Hernandez is the nearest thing we have to Saiz and technically plays that role in the middle, but I prefer him out wide.”
Brown, 23, was tipped as one of the next big things when Chelsea signed him from West Brom when he was only 16-years-old.
Subscribe to Football Insider TV now
However he is now on loan at Luton and still struggling to play there regularly due to his injury issues.
It is a shame that such a promising young player has ended up barely playing for a team down the bottom of the Championship.
His loan spell at Elland Road was such an unfortunate one.
Leeds knew he was injured when they signed him but they simply could not get him back up to full speed.
Given Bielsa’s obsession over player fitness, it is baffling that he would approve the signing of a player recovering from such a bad injury.
Maybe Victor Orta pushed through that deal a bit more but for the club to think he could seamlessly replace Saiz in the midfield was a bit daft when you look back at it.
Leeds never needed a replacement for Saiz anyway. They haven’t missed him one bit.
In other Leeds United news, two players have not trained since the draw with Luton on Tuesday.