Laurens de Bock was axed from the Leeds United squad on Saturday.
Paul Heckingbottom has explained to The Yorkshire Post why Laurens de Bock was omitted from his Leeds United squad on Saturday.
Leeds picked up their first win under Heckingbottom as Liam Cooper’s goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win over Brentford at Elland Road.
There was no sign of De Bock in the matchday squad after his horror show at Derby in midweek, with the Belgian left-back being replaced by Tyler Denton who started on the bench.
And the 40-year-old reveals that a compliance with the homegrown quota was a leading factor in his decision to select Denton instead of De Bock, who cost £1.5 million in January.
He told The Yorkshire Evening Post: “He was out of the 11, but you have to consider the homegrown players and that rule, so with Adam missing out we’ve got to have seven in the squad. So yeah Tyler came in.”
Vurnon Anita started at left-back and time will tell whether Heckingbottom uses De Bock again.
He was hugely disappointing at the iPro Stadium, though he had shown a bit of promise under Thomas Christiansen prior to his sacking.
But he doesn’t offer anywhere near enough in an attacking sense and that’s one area that he needs to improve on if he is going to endear himself to the former Barnsley boss.
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