Leeds United snub comes back to bite them after Luke Ayling and Rasmus Kristensen developments as Cody Drameh heads for exit
Leeds United might be forced to count the cost of snubbing Cody Drameh this season from the Championship after a third straight loss left them in major danger.
The Yorkshire Evening Post reported on 13 April that it is now “somewhat inevitable” that the 21-year-old leaves the club this summer, with his camp indicating a permanent exit is “on the cards” prior to preseason.
And little wonder, as the right-back gathers transfer interest from multiple sources, and the powers that be at Elland Road fumble his development for no benefit.
After defeat at Fulham on Saturday (22 April), the third straight, coupled with results elsewhere, the Whites are under serious threat.
As the form under Javi Gracia has fluctuated and then fallen off a cliff over the past six weeks one constant has been poor defensive play at Drameh’s position, as first Luke Ayling then Rasmus Kristensen have struggled badly.
So, with Drameh making a success of himself out on loan for the second straight season he is likely left shaking his head as to what the Leeds United hierarchy was so attached to that they have consistently shown such little interest in him.
Obviously it has to be said that succeeding in the second tier with Cardiff and now Luton is a very different matter than doing so in the self-styled greatest league in the world, that the Whites are currently scrambling not to fall out of.
And having the youngster in the line up may have been beneficial a month or more ago, but Gracia’s side suddenly have such widespread issues the loanee is unlikely to be the difference between relegation and survival at this stage.
But it is still alarming that a year after winning both the player of the year and young player of the year awards in half a season in South Wales [Wales Online, 1 May], Drameh is now surging into the play-offs with Luton, potentially even securing promotion as Leeds go down.
The Daily Mail previously reported interest from the likes of Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund (11 November), and according to Fabrizio Romano on 14 April Drameh is set to make a decision on his future right after the play-offs.
The former Fulham man made 23 Championship appearances for Cardiff last season, won two club awards, and generally did everything a young player is supposed to do in proving themselves a success on loan.
He came back to Leeds United and was greeted with a contract extension for Ayling and the £10million purchase of Kristensen from Red Bull Salzburg as part of the Victor Orta-led transfer backing of Jesse Marsch with his former players.
The American gave Drameh precisely one Premier League opportunity, in a 5-2 defeat at Brentford on 3 September that featured the sort of defending that has again reared its head in the first team, and then left him feeding on scraps in the cups from then on.
As he left for Luton in January Marsch suggested an understanding had been reached over at future at Elland Road [Yorkshire Post, 26 January], but that went out the window when he was sacked just weeks later.
Kristensen has struggled to adapt to the Premier League all season while Ayling, for all his talismanic qualities, is long past his best defensively, and both have been in rotten form recently.
Drameh may not be a world-beater but at his age he could have used some top flight experience for development, but has instead once more done mostly all he can out on loan – starting 14 of 16 games at wing-back.
He was snubbed at Leeds United this season and it doesn’t look like he will give the club the chance to repeat the trick.
Ironically, if the Whites are relegated they would be letting a proven second-tier operator slip through their fingers, and if not they will have alienated a young talent without even having high class play on the right of defence in his absence.
It is one of many decisions that have ultimately led the club to the brink again, but arguably one of the most bemusing, and Drameh will likely have seen nothing from Kristensen at Craven Cottage on Saturday to explain why he was the priority.
In other Leeds United news, Newcastle are circling like vultures as the Whites face a relegation fire sale.