OPINION
Enough is surely enough for Vurnon Anita.
He must instruct his agent to find him a new club after his latest baffling omission from the Leeds United squad.
Marcelo Bielsa made wholesale changes to the team for Tuesday night’s 2-1 League Cup win over Bolton, naming eight new starters as he gave chances to those on the fringes of the first XI.
Anita, it is now clear, is nowhere near the team and does not figure in thoughts of the new manager.
Not only were rookies Jamie Shackleton and Tom Pearce selected ahead of the Holland international, 29, for the full-back positions, Laurens De Bock and Conor Shaughnessy were named on the bench as cover.
In Anita’s favoured central midfield slot, Kalvin Phillips, Lewis Baker, Mateusz Klich and Shackleton, not to mention the injured Adam Forshaw, are ahead of him in the pecking order.
While few among Leeds’ fanbase will question Bielsa after his 100 per cent record yielded from three convincing and highly impressive victories.
But it is hard to decipher exactly what Anita has done wrong. What does he have to do to get a game? Has something gone on behind the scenes that fans are unaware of? It just doesn’t add up.
The writing is surely on the wall after the three-times Holland international’s latest inexplicable omission.
Hailed as a super smart signing after being snapped up on a free in the summer of 2017 following the expiry of his contract at Newcastle United, he has made just 14 league starts out of a possible 46 and was predominantly used as a makeshift left-back rather than in central midfield or right-back, where he played for the Premier League outfit.
Expected to be perhaps one of the first names on the teamsheet, Anita has instead been a spare part for the last 12 months.
He has not played since a 3-1 defeat to Preston North End on 10 April and has not made the matchday 18 under Bielsa.
Anita has no choice but to find a Championship club keen to take him on loan before the window shuts on 31 August, or secure a new posting a team on the Continent, perhaps on a permanent deal.
It is highly possible he has played his last game for Leeds.