Leeds midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi has been sent out on loan to Germany.
It is hard to feel that Leeds United’s handling of Yosuke Ideguchi has been good in any sense.
He went out on a disastrous loan to Cultural Leonesa in January where he barely played, and new manager Marcelo Bielsa did not have patience for him this summer.
Ideguchi, he argued, was behind the curve, with language and integration issues making it difficult for the Japanese midfielder to make a quick adjustment to England.
Leeds settled on a loan deal, but instead of sending him to another English club, they have sent him out on loan to German side Greuther Furth.
It is a bit of a perplexing strategy, with Ideguchi now playing in four countries within a year, and missing out on Japan’s World Cup squad too.
Fortunately his new club are promising to give the midfielder what he needs.
Greuther Furth CEO Rachid Azzaoui is relaxed about the loanee getting up to speed.
He was quoted by Nord Bayern: “Yosuke is a young, very talented midfielder.
“We will help him to integrate with us and give him the necessary time.”
These are the sort of comments Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani should have been making, and decided to back the midfielder and give him time, with a view to contributing in the second half of the season.
However well he plays in Germany, it won’t make Ideguchi’s adjustment to English football any easier apart from perhaps lifting his confidence.
Instead it feels like Leeds are giving up on the 22-year-old already.
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