Mallik Wilks is on loan at League One Doncaster Rovers from Leeds United and missed a glorious chance against Sunderland.
Mallik Wilks is at Doncaster Rovers to learn. And the on-loan Leeds United striker has certainly been handed a few tough lessons of late.
The 19-year-old was dropped for the recent clash with Rochdale and admitted, via the Doncaster Free Press, that his performances had dropped after becoming too comfortable in the starting XI.
Manager Grant McCann has taken a hard line stance with Wilks once again after the 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland on Tuesday night at the Keepmoat.
Wilks, along with Matty Blair, missed a glorious one-on-one chance with the score level, Sunderland goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin making a superb save. Shortly after, Chris Maguire scored the winner.
“We should have gone in two up really with Mallik and Matty,” McCann told the Free Press. “We need to realise that when we get into those situations that we can’t shoot at the keeper and expect it to go in.
“We’ve got to have a trick in our locker, do something different, and especially with a keeper of Jon McLaughlin’s experience. They’ll be thinking two good saves from him but we’re thinking it’s two bad misses from us.”
As it stands, Wilks is due to become a free agent at the end of the season but McCann stated, via Leeds Live, that the Elland Road side are in talks to tie the academy graduate down to a new, long-term deal.
But McCann’s comments should not go unnoticed. If Wilks is to get his chance under the famously demanding Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds, he cannot afford to cost his team like he did against Sunderland.
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