Laurens De Bock has been a total flop at Leeds after his £1.5m move from Club Brugge in January 2018.
The 26-year-old made seven appearances for the club in the 17/18 season but only made the bench once under Marcelo Bielsa, in the EFL Cup game against Bolton.
He was sent out on loan to KV Oostende just days later where he made 23 appearances and scored two goals.
He’s now looking for a new club with just over a week left in the European and domestic lower leagues transfer window, after his proposed move to Greek side Aris Thessaloniki reportedly collapsed.
If he doesn’t secure a move he’ll stay on the books at Leeds where he’s under contract until 2022.
BBC Radio Leeds pundit Noel Whelan ripped into De Bock this week, saying he was a “shocking signing” and he’s bang on with his opinion, even if he does come across as a bit harsh.
“Get him off the wage bill,” Whelan said to Football Insider. “He was a shocking signing in the first place, just terrible. He did nothing and didn’t look interested.
“He couldn’t do the box-to-box role that Marcelo Bielsa demands of his full-backs, so it’s no surprise to me he is being sold.”
Orta’s missteps
De Bock isn’t the only new signing to flop at Leeds amid director of football Victor Orta’s scattergun approach before Marcelo Bielsa arrived.
Cameron-Borthwick Jackson, Pawel Cibicki, Felix Wiedwald, Hadi Sacko, Jay-Roy Grot, Vurnon Anita, Caleb Ekuban and Pierre-Michel Lasogga all flopped under Orta’s watch.
His successes were few and far between, although he did sign Mateusz Klich, Ezgjan Alioski and Pontus Jansson.
His hit rate has improved massively under Marcelo Bielsa and this summer was solid evidence that the recruitment at Leeds has been tightened up.
Brighton loanee Ben White has come in and taken the first-team by storm, and Helder Costa and Eddie Nketiah are doing bits whenever they get the chance. Both Costa and Nketiah should play against Stoke tonight in the Carabao Cup.
De Bock was struggling at Leeds before Bielsa came in as new manager and he was never going to survive at Elland Road once the Argentine arrived.
He had a pedigree, playing for the Belgium youth sides all the way up to the Under-21s, and he made the bench for the senior side, but he never lived up to his promise.
According to WyScout, his Leeds numbers were pretty miserable – no goals and no assists, he suffered 10 losses of the ball every 90 minutes and only won just over half of his duels.
Leeds won’t get anywhere near the £1.5m they paid for him, with the Aris Thessaloniki deal reported to be around £500,000, but getting him off the books will be the best for both sides.