Eddie Nketiah joined Leeds United on loan from Arsenal on transfer deadline day.
Roofe left Leeds for Belgian club Anderlecht earlier in the summer transfer window, and on transfer deadline day, the Championship outfit signed 20-year-old forward Eddie Nketiah on loan from Premier League outfit Arsenal.
The youngster is a direct replacement for Roofe, and Leeds manager director Kinnear has explained why it took so long for the Whites to land him.
Kinnear has outlined just how highly Arsenal rate Nketiah, and his comments suggest that the youngster will not be at Leeds next season even if the Whites wanted.
After all, if the Gunners rate the 20-year-old so highly, then they are not going to leave him at another club on loan for two successive seasons.
Kinnear told The Yorkshire Evening Post about Nketiah: “We think Eddie is a fantastic replacement for Kemar. With Eddie, he’s not a player we’ve picked from the obscure reaches of the Arsenal academy.
“The reason we’ve had to wait so long in the window is because Arsenal were deciding if he was going to be a first team player or not and he’s competing against [Alexander] Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubamayeng for those positions. That shows how highly they rate him.
“He’s already scored for the Arsenal first team in competitive fixtures and in pre-season. He was released because Arsenal bought [Nicolas] Pepe, that’s the level we’re working at.”
Back in action
Leeds will return to action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Nottingham Forest at Elland Road in the Championship.
The Whites got the better of Bristol City 3-1 away from home in the Championship last weekend.
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