The January Leeds United recruit was not given a squad number on Thursday.
Yosuke Ideguchi’s Leeds United career may not be as doomed as it appeared.
Ideguchi was one of seven senior players left off Leeds’ squad number list ahead of the 2018/19 season on Thursday – along with Vurnon Anita, Ouasim Bouy, Eunan O’Kane, Luke Murphy, Hadi Sacko and Caleb Ekuban.
But as some eagle-eyed fans have noticed, after the Whites’ new home kit went on sale on Friday, the Japanese midfielder’s shirt is available to buy on the club’s official website, where he is listed as number 16.
Curiously, however, Ryan Edmondson (39), Jamie Shackleton (46) and Jordan Stevens (48) are all missing from the latest list, while Lewis Baker (34) is listed – perhaps mistakenly – as 24.
Ideguchi was tipped to make Japan’s squad for the 2018 World Cup at the time of his arrival at Leeds in January.
But the former Gamba Osaka player failed to make the cut after struggling on loan to Cultural Leonesa in the second half of last season.
Could Ideguchi have a future at Leeds after all?
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