MOT View: BBC pundit comments on Leeds intent with signing makes no clear sense
Noel Whelan has suggested that Leeds United signed Ian Poveda from Manchester City with no clear intent to use him this season.
Instead, the BBC pundit claimed that the Whites have one eye on the future by bringing the England youth international to Elland Road.
So far that has been the case. Poveda made the bench against Millwall and Wigan but has been nowhere to be seen in the last three fixtures.
Whelan suggested that the bench against Bristol City was the strongest Marcelo Bielsa could make it, claiming that Poveda couldn’t make that.
“I think he is a player that has been brought in as a long-term prospect because he is still young,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“When you looked at the bench the other day it was the strongest we could make. You have to cover your bases and Bielsa likes players that can adapt and play one or two positions.
“Maybe he is one that is for the future rather than right now.”
With Leeds in the middle of a promotion push for the Premier League, surely they would have used January to bring in players that can make an immediate effect.
If Whelan is right, and the Whites only bought Poveda for the future, that would in no way help them achieve their immediate goals in West Yorkshire. The 20-year-old could have had a real impact if he was given the chance, and it would make no sense for him not to be thrown into the first-team in some capacity.
Many twists and turns can happen in the Championship, and Poveda will surely be called upon at some point in the next couple of months.
In other Leeds United news, this YEP journalist has suggested that Whites fans could take this one player for granted