The Leeds United striker is on loan with Doncaster Rovers.
Grant McCann has told the Doncaster Free Press that managing Leeds United’s Mallik Wilks is like having another child.
Wilks, who is on loan from Leeds to McCann’s Doncaster Rovers until January, began brightly at the Keepmoat Stadium, but lost his starting place for the recent fixtures against Grimsby Town and Rochdale.
According to his manager, however, the break has yielded a positive response from the forward.
“Mallik has had an unbelievable reaction”, McCann said. “When I spoke to him and told him I was leaving him out, he was fine with it. He looked disappointed but his reaction when he came on was first class. His reaction in training has been the same.
“To me, this week he looks like the Mallik that came to us at the start of the season – the first seven or right games when he was so hard to play against.
“I’ve said it before that Mallik is going to have runs of two good games and then one when he’s probably not at it.
“He’s young and he’s learning. When he does hit his peak, he’s going to be hard to deal with.”
And McCann, who recently riled a section of the Leeds fanbase after writing off Wilks’ chances back at his parent club, added: “I speak to Mallik more than I speak to my kids. It’s almost like having a fourth boy really.
“(The discussions are) nothing bad, just speaking to him about how he’s getting on. Is the hotel OK? The food? What he did last night – it’s constant, every day with him really.
“He enjoys that and we love him here. “We just want to keep improving him.”
Wilks, who finds Kemar Roofe, Tyler Roberts and Patrick Bamford ahead of him at Leeds, is in the final year of his contract at Elland Road.
The Leeds native made his one and only Whites appearance in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Sutton United in January 2017.
What does the future hold for Wilks back at Leeds United?
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