BBC Radio Leeds pundit Noel Whelan has urged Vurnon Anita to quit Leeds United as he believes the midfielder has played his last game for the Yorkshire club.
Since joining the Whites on a free transfer in 2017, the 30-year-old has managed to make just 22 appearances in all competitions and spent last season on loan at Dutch side Willem II.
Anita has failed to earn a spot in any of Marcelo Bielsa’s matchday squads this season and ex-Leeds star Whelan believes that the best option for the former Newcastle utility man is to move on because he clearly is not fancied by the Argentine manager.
“There is no place for Vurnon Anita anymore, he’s played his last Leeds game,” Whelan told Football Insider. “Everybody wanted it to work out for him when he signed, but it wasn’t the same Anita as the one who played for Newcastle.
“He didn’t do a great deal under what were difficult circumstances admittedly. We have better players now, we just do. Anita needs to look elsewhere and move on. I’m sure he will be looking to do that.
“Bielsa has not seen enough from Anita to change his mind, and prefers the other senior players as well as the youngsters like Jamie Shackleton, Robbie Gotts and Leif Davis.
“Is Anita going to take over in midfield from Adam Forshaw or Kalvin Phillips, or a full-back from Stuart Dallas or Luke Ayling? No, he is not. There is no place for him.
“Whether he played for Holland or not is irrelevant.”
TIF Tactics
Anita made 33 appearances in all competitions while on loan at Willem II in the Eredivise last season and failed to do anywhere near as good as Kalvin Phillips, who played in the same defensive midfield position but at Elland Road in the Championship.
According to stats by WhoScored, Phillips did a lot better than Anita last season in practically every key area for a deeper-lying central midfielder.
Phillips averaged more tackles, interceptions, clearances and blocks per league appearance in comparison to Anita and in fact, the only areas that the Dutchman can say he did better was by conceding fewer fouls on average and being dribbled past less often.
So Phillips is a far better defensively than Anita, but the Leeds midfielder also looked a lot better on the ball than the former Netherlands international by averaging 0.5 key passes per match compared to Anita’s 0.1.
Based on these stats, it is not at all surprising that Anita is nowhere near Bielsa’s first-team and Whelan is spot on to call for the ex-Ajax man to move on.
What next for Anita?
It would be unexpected to see Anita stay put at Elland Road once the transfer windows in Europe close in the coming days, however it could be difficult for him to find a new club when his form was so bad in the Netherlands last season.
If Anita cannot find a new club then it would not be a shock to see his contract terminated.
As it stands, the midfielder’s current deal is due to expire at the end of the season, so the player and the club could find it mutually beneficial to part company so that he is free to join clubs after the transfer windows across Europe slam shut.