Conor Shaughnessy was a promising player for Leeds United this time two years ago, but it’s gone pear-shaped since.
What a difference two years makes for Leeds United’s Conor Shaughnessy.
On September 19 of 2017, Shaughnessy was one of United’s best players as Leeds – then under Thomas Christiansen – knocked Premier League side Burnley out of the League Cup at Turf Moor.
The Irishman, who was 21 at the time, was exceptional in central defence that night and that performance, coupled with the fact he was impressing in Championship games too, suggested that United had signed a real gem from Reading a year earlier.
Two years on, it’s all gone wrong for Shaughnessy and his future at the club now looks very bleak.
The 23-year-old has just joined Mansfield Town on a season-long loan, with the Stags sitting 19th in League Two at the moment.
It’s a dramatic fall from grace for a player who Neil Redfearn called ‘outstanding’ during his purple patch under Christiansen two years ago [Radio Yorkshire].
Shaughnessy’s decline could perhaps be traced back to January of 2018, when an ankle injury ruled him out for the rest of his breakthrough season, weeks before Christiansen, who had clearly been developing him well, was sacked and replaced with Paul Heckingbottom.
He seemed to impress Marcelo Bielsa enough to make the Argentine include him in his matchday squads for Championship games early on in the 2018-19 campaign, but Shaughnessy hasn’t kicked a ball for Leeds since being taken off at half-time in a League Cup defeat by Preston last August – also the last time he’s made Bielsa’s 18.
The Whites loaned him to Hearts in Scotland in January of this year and now Mansfield arguably represents a further step away from Bielsa’s plans in West Yorkshire.
The good news is that Shaughnessy is under contract until 2021, meaning this isn’t quite last-chance saloon for him, but the bad news is that even if he’s the best player in League Two this season, it’s still League Two and won’t make a huge impression on the people who will ultimately decide his fate at Elland Road.
That night at Turf Moor should’ve been just the beginning of Shaughnessy at Leeds, not the beginning of the end.
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