Izzy Brown revealed he “felt great” in his stunning Leeds United comeback on Monday and is “almost there” in terms of his fitness.
The on-loan Chelsea attacker played the full 90 minutes for the United Under-23s against Crewe Alexandra and scored both of his side’s goals in their 2-0 Professional Development League win.
Writing afterwards on his personal Twitter account, Brown revealed he was “happy” to emerge unscathed from the match as he suggested first-team is now not too far away.
Happy to get through 90 minutes with no problems today, and felt great to score a brace and help the team win. Almost there… #lufc pic.twitter.com/NIKB1xp0AI
— Isaiah Brown (@izzyjaybrown) January 14, 2019
OPINION
It is hugely encouraging for Leeds and manager Marcelo Bielsa, who was in attendance to watch the Under-23s triumph, that Brown got the huge confidence boost of a double in his first run-out since his comeback was aborted a month ago by a hamstring injury. But United and their supporters need to be extra wary with the attacking midfielder despite his upbeat claims about his fitness. The fact is that Brown has not played first-team football since tearing his ACL 12 months ago and is going to need a series of high intensity youth-team fixtures before he can be considered for Championship football. Leeds have lost Samuel Saiz and Lewis Baker in recent weeks, and are certainly in need of attacking reinforcements. A fully fit Brown would add an extra dimension to a team that has become overly reliant upon Pablo Hernandez for creativity and off-the-cuff brilliance. It is great news that Brown scored twice today, but he is not suddenly the answer to everything at Leeds. He needs time.