Leeds United have the option to recall Marcus Antonsson from his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers within weeks, according to a reliable journalist.
Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Phil Hay claimed on his personal Twitter account on Thursday morning that the Championship promotion hopefuls can take advantage of a clause in Antonsson’s season-long loan that allows them to bring him back to Elland Road from the start of the January transfer window.
Leeds have the option to recall Antonsson in the January transfer window but are unlikely to do so. Happy at this stage to let him continue progressing with Blackburn.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) December 14, 2017
But Hay explained that is unlikely to happen, even though Antonsson is in excellent form after scoring five goals in November alone to secure the League One player of the month award.
Antonsson, 26, joined Blackburn on a season-long loan in the summer after struggling to make any sort of impact in his debut Leeds campaign following his £1.5million arrival from Sweden, finding himself behind Chris Wood and Souleymane Doukara in the forward pecking order.
Thomas Christiansen then signed four new forwards in the summer, three on permanent deals, after Wood and Doukara were sold and took the decision to send Antonsson out on loan.
The Swede has responded with eight goals from 19 matches in all competitions. to provide hope he can reignite his Leeds career, where he has a contract that runs until the summer of 2019.
OPINION
Antonsson was dismissed at Leeds as a one-dimensional operator who was too puny for the Championship and capable of only playing in a front two. The Swede has proved the doubters wrong with his transformation at Blackburn, shining in a new left-wing role which has been integral to the third-tier club’s improvement and his own receipt of the League One player of the month award for November. Leeds are not so well blessed with goalscorers and attacking flair that they can ignore the merits of Antonsson and must get him back to have a good look next summer. Can he make a similar impact in a higher division? Is he more effective out wide, where he is not required to play with his back to goal so often? These are the questions the Leeds coaching staff can answer.