The Leeds United starlet will see his first-team prospects reduced in the near future.
Gaetano Berardi’s return from injury will delight everyone associated with Leeds United. Well, nearly everyone.
The Swiss defender managed 45 minutes for Leeds U-23 this week in what was his first game since the senior side’s 3-0 defeat by QPR on the first day of the season.
It seems only a matter of time before he is back competing with summer signing Luke Ayling for his right-back slot, but what does such a return mean for Lewie Coyle?
The 20-year-old has been Ayling’s back-up in Berardi’s absence, but he looks set to now become Garry Monk’s third-choice option for that role which, given the promise he showed last season, is a big, big shame indeed.
At his age, coupled with his potential, Coyle needs games for the sake of his ongoing development, and it would be a bigger shame, however, if those matches came for Leeds U-23s for the rest of the campaign.
Coyle, who has started Leeds’ three League Cup games this season, is beyond youth football now; he has a taste for the senior set-up and senior appearances are a must.
But with the exception of maybe the Whites’ fourth-round League Cup clash at home to Norwich, he won’t get them under Monk. Consequently, he could, and certainly should, request a loan move in January.
Berardi’s injury history this calendar year will make Monk reluctant to lose him, but it’s regressive for him as a player to spend the five months from January to May playing regularly at Thorp Arch instead of for, say, a League One club twice a week.
Leeds suffer in the long term if Coyle is held back and, sadly, so will the player.
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