Marcelo Bielsa has admitted to Leeds Live that he feels like he has failed as Robbie Gotts, Jordan Stevens, Alfie McCalmont and Bryce Hosannah all aren’t at Leeds United this season.
Departures aplenty
Stevens and Gotts left Leeds to join Barrow in the summer, Hosannah has moved to Wrexham after seeing his contract with the Whites expire, and McCalmont is currently on loan at Morecambe.
The four young players all ultimately had to leave Leeds, after struggling to receive any regular first-team opportunities.
And Bielsa admits that the fact he couldn’t provide them all with a pathway upsets him.
“The fact that Gotts is not here, Stevens is not here, Alfie is not here, Hosannah is not here, I live it as a failure, all those players who were close to the first-team but didn’t manage to get there – it’s a failure of my job,” he said.
“Of course those players leaving the club have an option to come back again, but the first opportunity the most important one is when we think they could be a starter, and they show that they can.”
Trusting in youth
In fairness to Bielsa has had been keen to promote Leeds’ more promising talents.
Just this season the likes of Charlie Cresswell, Jamie Shackleton and Joe Gelhardt have received first-team chances.
The Leeds boss is always keen to keep an eye on the progress of his under-23 players, with the Whites working hard to strengthen in that area recently.
Leeds have brought in a number of new players to bolster their development squad and are quickly reaping the rewards.
Leeds won the Premier League 2 Division 2 last season and have started the new campaign well, having only lost once in their first six games.
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