Can Lewie Coyle be more confident than ever about his Leeds future?

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While Championship giants Leeds United are enduring a right-back crisis, Lewie Coyle is shining on loan at Fleetwood Town in League One.

Lewie Coyle left Leeds United for Fleetwood Town on loan last summer in order to get some first-team football under his belt.

Ironically, however, the York-born academy graduate would have a good chance of walking into Leeds’ starting XI right now.

Going into Saturday’s clash with Bristol City, the Whites are lacking options at right-back, with Luke Ayling out for the rest of the season and Gaetano Berardi suspended after picking up the most needless of red cards in the 4-1 home defeat to Cardiff City that got Thomas Christiansen the sack.

So Coyle could have come in very handy right now. The 22-year-old, who started just nine Championship games in the last two seasons, has been a shining light in an otherwise difficult campaign for Fleetwood.

He has been a regular on the right of defence and impressed hugely, famously winning the fans’ Man of the Match award for four games in a row back in September, the first time in Fleetwood’s history that a player had achieved that feat.

But, in his absence, new Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom might have to turn to Vurnon Anita or even natural left winger Stuart Dallas to fill in on the flank as the Robins come to Elland Road.

So with Leeds’ squad stretched thin, Coyle should be more confident than ever that he can fight for a place in the first-team picture once he returns from Fleetwood with his reputation enhanced.

Ayling’s form had dropped this season before the campaign-ending injury, Berardi’s lack of discipline is an increasing cause for concern while Anita and Dallas are hardly a perfect fit at right-back, after all.