Phil Hay shares gut feeling about Leeds loan ace Eddie Nketiah in January
The Athletic journalist Phil Hay has admitted that he has a gut feeling that Eddie Nketiah will leave Leeds United in January and return to Arsenal.
Nketiah, 20, has made 12 Championship appearances for Leeds this season but is yet to start a single match in the league despite scoring some important goals for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
He missed almost all of November due to injury and since returning to the squad has only made two substitute appearances in three matches, which both of them amounting to 11 and 13 minutes against Middlesbrough and Huddersfield respectively.
The Daily Mail reported earlier this month that Arsenal are giving serious thought to recalling Nketiah amid frustration about his lack of game-time at Elland Road.
And former Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Hay has revealed that he is concerned the Gunners will terminate the England Under-21 international’s loan deal with the Whites.
When asked if he gets the feeling that Nketiah will return to Arsenal in January, Hay said on The Phil Hay Show on Spotify, [10m15s]: “I think I do, to be honest.
“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.
“I don’t think there’s any resentment or any bitterness about it because you’re in a position where Leeds are top of the league. They’ve got 46 points. There isn’t really any argument to have with Bielsa’s selection of the team that he’s picking.
“But equally, it doesn’t do much for Nketiah to sit around not playing, not getting games, not getting off the bench against Hull.”
It would be a blow for Leeds to lose Nketiah, even though the youngster has not really played that often for the club.
As we all know, Bielsa is a man who craves for consistency and is not one for making changes to his team or squad unless he is forced to.
Nketiah is going to struggle to start games as long as Patrick Bamford is fit and so far, the former Chelsea striker is yet to suffer any kind of setback.
If Nketiah leaves in January then he’ll need to be replaced but Bielsa will no doubt rather keep hold of the Arsenal loanee until the campaign ends.
In other Leeds United news, Jeff Stelling has predicted Leeds’ clash against Cardiff.