MOT View: Leeds should ramp up reported Jan hunt to sign 19y/o amid Phil Hay fears
Leeds United should step up their reported hunt to sign Rhian Brewster on loan from Liverpool in the January transfer window amid doubts surrounding Eddie Nketiah.
Marcelo Bielsa is yet to hand Nketiah, 20, a start in the Championship this season despite signing the England Under-21 international on a season-long loan from Arsenal in the summer.
Arsenal were clearly expecting Nketiah to get more game-time than he has done at Elland Road.
The Daily Mail have reported this month that the Gunners are set to recall their young starlet and are planning to loan him out elsewhere, with Bristol City said to be interested.
The Athletic journalist Phil Hay has also cast doubt about the striker’s short-term future in Yorkshire.
“I think I do [get the feeling he’s going back to Arsenal], to be honest,” he said on The Phil Hay Show on Spotify [10m15s].
“Leeds have been briefing that he’s very happy and I can’t speak for him so I don’t know what he thinks exactly. But I speak to people who know him, people around him, and I think there is frustration there about the little amount of game-time he’s playing.”
It is starting to look more and more likely that Nketiah will leave Elland Road in January and that means that Bielsa is going to have to find a replacement.
Luckily, it seems as though Leeds have already been on the hunt for a striker who could be available on loan to replace the Arsenal youngster.
Liverpool’s Brewster is seen as one of the most exciting up-and-coming strikers in English football.
The 19-year-old made his senior debut for the Reds this season in the Carabao Cup, impressing Jurgen Klopp to the point where he was handed a second first-team start in a penalty shoot-out win against Arsenal.
Brewster, like Nketiah, is an England Under-21 international and the fact that he could be available on loan in January should be music to the ears of Bielsa and Victor Orta.
According to a report by the Mirror in November, Leeds face competition in the race to sign Brewster with Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Swansea also keen.
However if he was going to get game-time somewhere, he’s more than likely going to get it in the Championship with the current leaders or with the Swans.
Nketiah may not have started a single league game for Leeds but he has still earned 286 minutes’ worth of game-time off the bench, scored five goals in all competitions and has been in fine form for England’s Under-21s.
Brewster, as someone with just two senior appearances to his name, would no doubt be pleased with that sort of experience in the second half of the campaign and Leeds need to step up their bid to sign the youngster as soon as possible.
In other Leeds United news, West Brom fans are thrilled with this announcement about a senior man at Elland Road.