The 49ers tied up plenty of loose ends in the summer when it came to addressing the futures of some of Leeds United’s most important players.
The likes of Jayden Bogle, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon and Brenden Aaronson all signed contract extensions to keep themselves in West Yorkshire for the foreseeable future.
According to the latest reports, our manager Daniel Farke looks set to follow suit sooner rather than later as well.
But for one Leeds ace, the writing appears to be on the wall, with his contract running out next summer.
Leeds do not have an option to extend Ilia Gruev’s contract
For better or worse, Ilia Gruev actually featured in more Premier League games last season than most supporters would have expected.
However, a knee injury towards the conclusion of last season meant the Bulgarian midfielder was unable to add to his 23 Premier League appearances towards the back end of last campaign. (Sofascore)
Whilst the 26-year-old has featured for our U21s and his country so far this season, he is yet to make a senior appearance for the Whites.
To put it bluntly, he’s simply not good enough to break up the trio of Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach and Ao Tanaka. Is there a role to play for him in terms of potentially coming on as a sub to help us see games out? Absolutely.
But with Gruev’s contract expiring next summer, his lack of involvement so far would suggest that his future may not be at Elland Road for much longer.
In a recent appearance on The Square Ball podcast, Beren Cross revealed that Leeds do have an option to extend Lukas Nmecha’s deal, with the German striker’s current contract also expiring next summer.
However, this option does not exist in Gruev’s deal, which adds more fuel to the fire that he will be leaving West Yorkshire at the end of the season.
“His (Nmecha’s) and Gruev’s are due to run out. I’m led to believe Nmecha’s has an option,” Cross said.
“I would assume if Leeds wanted to ward off any suitors, they would need to say that needs to be triggered, which negates Nmecha talking to other clubs. That isn’t the case with Gruev.”
If we planned to keep Gruev, he’d have already been offered a new deal by now, especially when considering how many contract extensions the 49ers have handed out in recent months.
Next summer is the perfect time to let Ilia Gruev go
Of course it would be nice to receive some sort of fee for Gruev, but I’d be happy to let him see out his contract with us rather than selling him in January, which could potentially leave us short in midfield.
After signing for us for £5million back in 2023, Gruev has come in and been a solid servant for Leeds over the years.
You know exactly what you’re going to get from the Bulgarian when you see him on the teamsheet.
He’s going to keep things nice and simple and attempt to retain possession as much as possible when on the ball.
And off the ball, he’s going to sit and hold his position whilst our more attack-minded players bomb on.
As we establish ourselves in the Premier League, there is a place for Gruev as a squad player.
However, by the time next summer rolls around, I anticipate we’ll have had another mid-table finish, so it’s likely we will have outgrown the Bulgarian.
In order to go to that next step, we would need to bring in a midfielder who really raises the ceiling of our squad and is capable of forcing his way into the starting XI.
We can’t keep Gruev around forever; sometimes you have to move a player on, even if they’ve been solid for you. But to continue to climb up the table, we need better midfield options than Gruev, with all due respect.
