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The 10 Leeds United players out on loan in 2020-21 and how they’ve been faring

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United are enjoying a sensational return to the Premier League after their 16-year absence, with a top-half finish well within their reach. 

The future looks bright at Elland Road with the likes of Illan Meslier, Pascal Struijk and Jamie Shackleton – all 21 or under – looking comfortable at the top level, but they’re not the only promising youngsters on the club’s books.

As well as ones to watch for the future, Leeds have sent out some more established pros with no place for them in Bielsa’s plans. Here are how the club’s 10 loanees are faring this season.

Laurens De Bock

Once hoped to be the solution to Leeds’ long-standing left-back problem, De Bock was brought in alongside dozens of others during Victor Orta’s first season as director of football.

The Belgian put in some questionable displays during his first few months, most notably in an ‘is he actually pissed?’ display at Derby County.

Unlike Mateusz Klich, who returned from a loan to become one of Bielsa’s most trusted lieutenants, De Bock has been left out in the cold during the Argentinian’s tenure.

His latest loan away, at Belgian side Zulte Waregem, follows forgettable stints at Oostende, Sunderland and Den Haag. While Zulte Waregem are dwindling in midtable of the Jupiler League, he’s getting regular starts for the first time in years.

De Bock evidently has no future at Leeds, but with an option to buy in his current deal, he might finally be offloaded for good this summer.

Ryan Edmondson

A key player for Carlos Corberan’s Under-23s, scoring 20 goals as they won the PDL-National title in 2018-19, Edmondson has finally got a proper taste of senior football this season.

An injury in the first few days of his stint at Aberdeen threatened to bring it to an early close, but it wasn’t as serious as first feared, and he went on to score two goals and register two assists across 14 appearances in the Scottish Premiership.

However, just three of those appearances were starts, prompting Leeds to send Edmonson to Keith Curle’s Northampton in January.

The striker has already made more starts (five) and played more minutes during this second loan of the season, but he’s yet to get off the mark for the League One relegation battlers.

Kun Temenuzhkov

The Bulgarian Under-21 international, who was raised in Spain and developed at Barcelona’s academy, was given his senior debut by Bielsa in an FA Cup defeat to QPR back in January 2019. No further appearances for Leeds have followed, and he’s had to leave on loan for further opportunities elsewhere.

After last season’s loan with La Nucia was cut short due to the pandemic, he’s now enjoying more continuity at Spanish third-tier outfit Real Union. Temenuzhkov has scored three goals in 12 appearances for a club currently sitting second in their regional Segunda B league.

Rafa Mujica

Another former Barcelona youth player, Mujic made 60 appearances for Barca’s B team but has always been on the periphery during his time at Leeds, already on to his fourth loan move away since he signed in 2019.

The 22-year-old forward barely got a look in at Real Oviedo in the first half of 2020-21, playing 47 minutes in the league across four appearances, and is now at their Segunda Division rivals Las Palmas, where he’s made one six-minute substitute cameo to date.

Jordan Stevens

After Jack Clarke was recalled by Tottenham and prior to the integration of Ian Poveda, Bielsa occasionally turned to former Forest Green youngster Stevens as an alternative option on the wing during Leeds promotion-winning campaign. 

But he’s had to drop down the Football League for further opportunities, originally joining Swindon before falling out of favour when Richie Wellens was replaced by former Leeds stalwart John Sheridan.

“Jordan is a young kid who really needs to realise how lucky he is to be at a club like Leeds United,” Sheridan told the Yorkshire Evening Post after Stevens was recalled and sent out to Bradford in January.

“For Jordan’s sake – and this is me being honest to him – he needs to have a bit more fire in his belly and realise how fortunate he is to be a young footballer at a massive club, in my eyes.”

Robbie Gotts

Harrogate-born local lad Gotts was perennially on the Leeds bench before he was finally handed his debut away to Arsenal in the FA Cup last season.

He faced plenty of competition for a spot in promotion-chasing Lincoln City’s midfield during the first half of the campaign and has since dropped down a tier to turn out for Salford in League Two.

Richie Wellens, who brought Stevens to Swindon, is evidently a big fan of Leeds’ youngsters and has been bowled over by the 21-year-old, who scored and starred in a 4-1 mauling of league leaders Cambridge United.

“On the press he is excellent, a typical [Marcelo] Bielsa player. His passing is good, he’s scored two in three for us and could have had more. He is a really good, infectious lad who the group has taken to straight away,” Wellens told reporters.

“We are going to improve him for free, that’s why Leeds have loaned him to us. We think he has a real chance to go all the way.”

READ: Where are they now? Leeds United’s last 10 Young Player of the Year winners

Alfie McCalmont

Already capped by Northern Ireland and previously tipped to be Kalvin Phillips’ understudy at the base of Bielsa’s midfield, McCalmont is progressing along nicely under Harry Kewell at Oldham this season.

He’s played over 1,000 minutes in League Two, registering three goals and two assists in 15 appearances for the Latics.

Bryce Hosannah

A regular in the youth ranks in recent years, the Lambeth-born former Crystal Palace academy player has stayed local in search of his first senior opportunities this season, moving to Bradford City.

Traditionally a full-back, Hosannah was often used further forward as a right winger or forward by Stuart McCall, but he hasn’t featured since the manager was sacked in December.

Mateusz Bogusz

“He’s probably going to be better than me,” believes his Polish compatriot Mateusz Klich, but the talented 19-year-old has taken something of a leftfield move to develop his skills in 2020-21.

Turning out for Logrones in the Segunda Division, he was advised by Leeds’ director of football that it would be a good environment to grow in.

“Victor Orta, told me that it seemed like a good way to show my potential,” Bogusz told Spanish outlet AS.

The midfielder has scored one goal in 15 appearances so far.

Matthew Turner

Eighteen-year-old goalkeeper Turner has been turning out regularly for Haverfordwest County in the Welsh Premier League.

At the end of the winter transfer window, the club announced he’d extended his deal to stay until the end of the season.

Barry Douglas

Technically on loan at Blackburn, although his contract expires in the summer and he won’t return to Leeds, experienced left-back Douglas can consider himself unfortunate to never be handed a chance in the Premier League.

He joined Leeds after playing a key role in Wolves’ emphatic promotion-winning season in 2017-18 and was the only senior player from Bielsa’s Championship-winning squad to move on in the summer.

Douglas has already played nearly twice as many minutes for Tony Mowbray’s side as he did last term for Leeds, even doing a good job on the opposite flank on occasion, and a third promotion in five years isn’t out of the question: Rovers are eighth, six points off the play-offs with a game in hand.


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