Seeing Conor Shaughnessy in Leeds United’s midfield might’ve been the final straw for Mateusz Klich.
The road back into first-team contention seemed pretty long for Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich before Saturday.
The 27-year-old hasn’t made a Championship appearance for Leeds in over two months and, even with Ronaldo Vieira suspended, head coach Thomas Christiansen didn’t bring him to Barnsley yesterday.
Klich knew he had a mountain to climb, but it’s now much steeper than he previously thought after Christiansen used centre-back Conor Shaughnessy in a central midfield role at Oakwell.
The young Irishman, mainly used as a defender this season, replaced Eunan O’Kane early in the second half and posted a good performance in what is his natural position, having joined from Reading last year.
But such a decision would suggest that even Shaughnessy is ahead of Klich in the pecking order for midfield places, meaning that the Poland international is now fifth-choice effectively, behind Vieira, Kalvin Phillips, O’Kane and now the 21-year-old.
Hell, he is most probably Christiansen’s sixth-choice in fact, with Vurnon Anita capable of playing midfield too.
With that in mind, the former FC Twente man, a £1.5 million signing in June, simply has to consider leaving the Yorkshire club in January.
It’s a much longer road back now than it was on Friday and any motivation Klich had to play his way back into the picture must be rapidly fading after seeing Shaughnessy being used in midfield.
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