Leeds United midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi is facing season-ending surgery as loan side Greuther Furth confirm he has suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury, according to Nord Bayern.
The German news outlet claim on their website that the 22-year-old, who is on a season long loan to the 2. Bundesliga outfit, had been making cautious steps back after suffering a semi-serious cruciate ligament injury, the club choosing to avoid an operation and work up his fitness on the training ground.
After returning to training with his teammates, sporting director Rachid Azzouzi told the newspaper: “He suffered a setback,” and the report states that he is now looking at potentially going under the knife which would put an end to his season.
Opinion
How much bad luck can one footballer pick up in his career? Ideguchi will be hoping that all his problems have come in the last year and that once this current nightmare is over – which could last until the summer and beyond – he can get back to playing football, something which he has found nearly impossible recently. He can barely forge out a career in Germany’s second division so only he will know how he intends to secure a long-term future at Elland Road, having struggled in his loan move to Spain last season. At 22-years-old he has plenty of time to make something of himself but Europe is not treating him as well as he, nor Leeds, would like it to. He needs to get his confidence back up and be playing regular football but so far that is just not happening. Could Leeds cut their losses and bin him in the summer? Only time will tell, but the signs are not boding well for the Japanese star.