Izzy Brown was a major flop at Elland Road last season after arriving on loan from Chelsea last summer.
Injured when he arrived, he was declared fit in December before suffering a setback playing for the Under-23s. He made his senior debut – a nine-minute cameo – against QPR in February and then wasn’t seen in the first-team again until the second leg of the Play-Off semi-final, where he came on for the last two minutes.
By the time he left those 11 minutes were the sum total of his game-time outside of the Under-23s.
So what went wrong? One Leeds fan asked Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay and he said that Bielsa was happy with the signing, but not with what he saw once Brown was fully fit.
“He was happy with the signing,” Hay said, “but ultimately once he got fit, he wasn’t at the level of intensity Bielsa looks for. Bielsa’s a stickler for hand running”.
he was happy with the signing but ultimately, once he got fit, he wasn’t at the level of intensity Bielsa looks for. Bielsa’s a stickler for hard running.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 30, 2019
OPINION
It was easy to feel some sympathy for Izzy Brown last season. He ended up mired in the Under-23s, making just two short appearances in the first team. Hay claims that Bielsa didn’t like his level of intensity but it would surely be hard to build that up after almost a calendar year out with injury, and no first-team time. It would have been interesting to see what Brown could have produced if he’d been given a run in the side, but there’s no way Leeds will be back in for him this summer. He also won’t be getting anywhere near the first-team set-up at Chelsea so Brown will be on the lookout for another club to move to on loan, possibly in the Championship. He might find it harder to get a big side interested in him after his travails last season, but he’s performed well in loan stints at Huddersfield and Brighton, and we hope he gets his career back on track. He didn’t go public with his frustrations and played decently for the Under-23s.