Ryan Edmondson is unlikely to get back into the Leeds United first-team any time soon, according to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay.
The former Yorkshire Evening Post reporter claimed via a live Q&A session on The Athletic’s website on Sunday that the 18-year-old striker failed to impress Marcelo Bielsa enough to warrant a spot in his senior squad in the pre-season.
“He looks a fair way down the pecking order and it doesn’t feel like he’s made much of an impression at first-team level through the summer,” said Hay. “England’s Under-19s have given him a chance but I’d be surprised to see him involved in the Championship any time soon.”
Edmondson has not featured in any of Leeds’ matchday squads so far this season.
Is Bielsa right to overlook Edmondson?
Edmondson has not played for the Leeds first-team since he came off the bench in the 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City last season.
He has only ever made two senior appearances for the Whites in his career and in both of them he has not done a lot to suggest that he should be featuring more regularly right now.
In that match against Birmingham last year, Edmondson played for 19 minutes and failed to muster a single shot at goal and only completed 50 per cent of his passes [WhoScored]. It was hardly an amazing impression.
At the moment, Leeds are doing well in the Championship despite their defeat against Swansea last week and they are scoring plenty of goals to not worry about making a drastic change up front.
Will we see Edmondson this season?
Leeds’ failure to get past the second round in the Carabao Cup has closed off opportunities for players like Edmondson, and other youngsters, from getting into the first-team and giving Bielsa something to think about.
If the 18-year-old wants to break into the senior squad then he might have to wait out until January when Leeds play in the FA Cup third round.
Up until then, Edmondson needs to get his head down, score plenty of goals in the youth teams and start to get Bielsa to change his mind about him.