Despite being very impressive all season, Leeds United’s Eddie Nketiah is yet to start in the Championship and is now likely to have to wait even longer.
When speaking in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Luton Town, Marcelo Bielsa has issued the media and the fans an update on 20-year-old Eddie Nketiah’s injury: “Stuart Dallas is healthy but Eddie Nketiah is not ready yet, next week he will start work with the group.”
Nketiah has amazingly failed to start a game this season, despite scoring three goals when coming off the bench on 10 occasions. In the two starts he was handed in the League Cup, the 20-year-old took full advantage of the opportunities, scoring in both of the matches against Salford City and Stoke.
The 20-year-old’s goal tally looks even more impressive when you look at the number of shots he’s had. In 265 minutes, Nketiah has had just 12 shots despite scoring three times, meaning the young man appears to be extremely clinical in front of goal. When you compare that to Patrick Bamford’s return of 50 shots equalling 5 goals, you can see just how impressive the young man’s stats are.
Verdict
There’s no doubt that Nketiah should be getting more game time, however, this new injury update puts that in serious doubt, for the short term anyway. Bamford is very lucky that Bielsa is seeming to put a lot of trust in him, as his performances so far this season have been less than impressive.
Sadly Bielsa didn’t give anyone a set date for Nketiah’s return, however, the 20-year-old now has at least another week to recover from whatever it is that’s causing this issue.