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Leeds United simply must reconsider permanent transfer stance on “intelligent” 20-y/o – View

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Leeds United look set to be letting midfielder Lewis Bate leave the club on either a permanent move or another loan after his stint at Oxford United last season.

With the transfer window promising to be incredibly busy at Elland Road, there are going to be plenty of players that have their futures up in the air as things stand.

Loans to the EFL were on the cards for many last season, and Lewis Bate was one of those, as he joined Oxford United for the season, demonstrating his quality in flashes but not on a consistent basis while a hand injury ended his season prematurely.

After Leeds’ relegation, many would have expected that the 20-year-old would be knocking on the door for involvement at least in pre-season, but The Athletic have revealed that the midfielder is set to depart again, either on a loan or on a permanent deal.

Here, we look at two reasons why Leeds need to U-turn on this stance and retain Bate for the season…

We invested in his talents, so use them

Bate might not be ready for leading the midfield in the Championship promotion race as we need someone to this season, but he’s more than ready to be at least tested in the second tier.

Having joined from Chelsea back in 2021, he’s someone who needs to be playing more senior football, and Oxford was his introduction to that environment, even though it was a tough slog for him in League One.

With a better, more possession-based coach leading him, he could very much learn from the more experienced players in our side and come into his own.

Letting him leave when we haven’t even seen remotely enough to judge him would be very unfair and render investing in him a pointless exercise.

Will Leeds get promoted in 2023/24?

Yes

Yes

No

No

He adds to our depth

Leeds are likely to lose midfielders this summer, meaning that we’ll not only need signings, but the younger players are going to have to start stepping up.

Bate’s development might not be as swift as the club anticipated when he joined from the Blues, but he’s still certainly a very talented player that should be an option.

A player like Bate would be a very good player for the squad in the long haul of a Championship season where injuries creep in and we need cover.

Leeds United quiz: Is Elland Road’s capacity higher or lower than these 15 EFL stadiums?

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Is Elland Road's capacity higher or lower than St Mary's?

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Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.

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  • Barry Butteree says:

    WTF. LEEDS are guilty of letting a whole host of really great young players leave. Either on loan and/ or selling for peanuts, the young loanees are now wanting away due t6 yearso their miss management, lack of playing time in the first team, really disrespected and forced to endure watching inferior signings and regular playe playing week after week giving shit performances, the blame for many of us rests with manager’s team selection, Marsch, Garcia and big Sam continually picking and playing the same players who have proven they are not quite enough, either not adapting to the premier league and are so short of confidence they should have been rested or not even on the bench. We could have ruined our chances of promotion for another 16 years

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