Sky Sports pundit Stephen Warnock has suggested that Bailey Peacock-Farrell could be getting axed from the Leeds United starting line-up now that the Championship leaders have signed Kiko Casilla from Real Madrid.
Peacock-Farrell, 22, has been a mainstay for Leeds this season, appearing 28 times across all competitions.
Warnock believes that the Northern Ireland international could have been sent off in the win against Derby on January 11 and expects new arrival Casilla to oust him from Marcelo Bielsa’s starting line-up in upcoming games.
“I think in the game against Derby, Bailey was a little bit lucky to stay on the pitch, the referee should’ve probably awarded a penalty with the high boot and things like that,” Warnock told Football League World.
“They’re little mistakes that he might’ve got away with at this moment in time, but later down the line you’ll carry on making mistakes.
“That’s part of the growing up process as a goalkeeper. He’s very, very young for a goalkeeper to be playing first-team football at such a high level.”
He added: “I’m not saying he’s (Peacock-Farrell) a bad goalkeeper, he’s a very good goalkeeper, the experience will have done him the world of good in years to come, but yeah, I expect him (Casilla) to be the No.1 coming into the club.
“To go out and sign a goalkeeper in January, they must want him as No.1.”
OPINION
Casilla watched on from the bench on Saturday as Leeds were beaten 2-1 by Stoke at the Bet365, and he will undoubtedly be desperate to get on the pitch after watching Peacock-Farrell concede two goals. The Northern Ireland international is not a bad goalkeeper and he is still quite young, so there is plenty of time for him to come good for the Whites, but he has been error-prone at times this term and it was good move by Bielsa to sign Casilla. The Spanish shot-stopper is an upgrade on Peacock-Farrell, without doubt. Bielsa could have signed a new number two to play as back-up to Peacock-Farrell, but going out and signing a new number one made a lot more sense. Leeds have to keep improving and they will only do that if they are signing players that are better than they already have. It could go down as one of the signings of the season if Casilla performs as expected.