OPINION
Izzy Brown’s ill-fated loan move to Leeds is hanging by a thread despite the player being declared “fit” again by manager Marcelo Bielsa.
BBC journalist Adam Pope was at the pre-match press conference on Friday and updated the status of Brown after Bielsa had spoken.
He said that Izzy Brown is now fit but won’t be considered for first-team action until mid-February.
Liam Cooper set to play for the U23s at Hull on Monday. Tom Pearce is ready for first team action after injury. Stuart Dallas’ bone in his foot is well on the mend & he trained today. Izzy Brown is fit but will be ready mid Feb for 1st team action. #lufc
— Adam Pope (@apopey) January 4, 2019
This is a player who hasn’t played senior football for over a year now and he’s still to play even a minute for Leeds following his summer move.
With Samu Saiz gone, it was hoped that Brown would slip into the space created, but that’s not going to happen for at least six weeks now.
Bielsa wants him to play four or five Under-23s games first to build up his match fitness.
That’s what he was doing in December when he suffered a reaction and limped out of an Under-23s game – his third back from injury.
Given that it’s going to be two-and-a-half months from then until he’s even considered for the first-team, we’d say Brown is very much in the last-chance saloon.
One more setback in the Under-23s and he is highly unlikely to play again this season and we’d expect that he would return to parent club Chelsea immediately.
It would be a tragedy for player and club if that happened. We believe Brown could have played a big part in the Leeds promotion bid this season – and he still could if he can come back stronger next time.
If he doesn’t and he suffers another setback, it could be the end of his ill-fated Leeds career.