This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.
A free-scoring talent pulled from the riches of a Premier League academy, Victor Orta’s hard work has arguably never felt so pointless.
A Dragon’s Den style presentation was required for Leeds to land Eddie Nketiah in January, jumping ahead of Bristol City in the queue for the youngster.
However, a number of months down the line and he’s facing a recall from the Gunners after not making a single Championship start.
As January rapidly approaches, it wouldn’t be too surprising if he still hasn’t started once Leeds travel to his Emirates Stadium home for an FA Cup third-round clash.
Had the game not been against his parent club, he might have played, but such is his lack of fitness and ability to adapt to Marcelo Bielsa’s methods, that he’s not had a look in since he arrived in west Yorkshire.
Nketiah may have scored twice for the U23s last Monday on a cold Lancashire night, but good performances at senior level have been too infrequent, failing to score for the first-team since October.
You can put that down to a lack of opportunities and also a lack of confidence.
It’s hardly surprising either. Patrick Bamford went on a run of ten games without scoring and he still couldn’t get in the side. If you consider that, it seems incredibly difficult to make a case for Nketiah ever starting at Leeds.
Coincidentally, Bamford is now in the best form he’s found all season, scoring twice against Cardiff last weekend and taking his tally to nine for the campaign.
The former Middlesbrough man looks the part and suits Bielsa’s system down to the ground. Nketiah, on the other hand, does not. In fact, he’s now never looked so far away from getting into the team and he faces a colossal task to prove he does.
Scoring goals for the U23s is a good start, but as Ryan Edmondson will tell you, that means too little to the meticulous head coach at Elland Road.
Virtually impossible: Can you name the year all of these Leeds flops arrived at Elland Road?
The Arsenal man still boasts a solid record considering how few minutes he’s played, netting five times, but as Phil Hay detailed on his recent podcast, Bamford will likely start until the end of the season.
The Gunners might want to pay close attention to those words because the only way the 20-year-old is going to get game time, is if his competition gets injured. This is his biggest challenge to date.
In other Leeds news, the Whites could sign the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic if they get promoted…