David Prutton has urged for patience regarding Leeds United striker Caleb Ekuban following a wave of criticism aimed at him.
A large selection of Whites supporters have already written off the 24-year-old and are struggling to see how he can have a future at Elland Road.
The centre-forward has had a difficult first season in English football and managed two goals in his 16 appearances across all competitions for the Yorkshire giants.
He is currently enjoying his best run in the side under manager Paul Heckingbottom, but has been guilty of missing clear goalscoring chances recently.
Sky Sports pundit Prutton has leapt to the defence of Ekuban and suggested he needs more time.
“Caleb Ekuban has obviously been guilty of missing chances during United’s last two games but every player has a dip be that for one game or two,” Prutton wrote in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“If that carries on towards the end of the season then perhaps you need to look at different aspects but Ekuban gives Leeds something different to Pierre-Michel Lasogga and something different to the strikers they have got.
“He’s still only played 16 games for Leeds and it’s his first season in the Championship, which is tough.
“Ekuban was on loan at Partizani Tirana in the Albanian league last season and you have got to mitigate the circumstances. With the greatest respect to Albanian football, did we think he was going to come and jump in straight away? Possibly not. Should we give him time to settle? Yes. Afford him some patience.”
OPINION
Ekuban has certainly been given a fair crack in recent weeks by Heckingbottom to prove himself, but unfortunately doesn’t look up to scratch and has to be axed from the starting XI. The Ghanian does possess some good pace and power to give the Whites a fresh look in attack. However, he will be judged on goals at the end of the day and teammate Pierre-Michel Lasogga has shown he is far more efficient in front of goal. Ekuban is only in his first season at Elland Road and it will be interesting to see if he can play a role in the squad moving forward.