In a recent Q&A on the Athletic, Phil Hay provided Leeds United fans with an update on players at the club who are currently on loan contracts, including Helder Costa.
Costa, who is currently on loan from Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, has made 37 Championship appearances for Leeds so far this season, scoring three goals and providing three assists.
The £9million-rated right-winger has averaged a WhoScored rating of 6.67 throughout the league campaign so far, helping Leeds reach the summit of the Championship table, on 71 points. Indeed, the Portuguese winger has played his role in helping Marcelo Bielsa’s side achieve that position as well, as he has offered just shy of one key pass a game (0.9), takes 1.5 shots at goal every 90 minutes and completes 1.4 dribbles in each fixture played on average (per WhoScored).
However, the recent unexpected break from the Championship season has raised several questions over players on loan contracts at Leeds, as, should the season be postponed for an extended period of time, players on loan deals which expire on July 1 would be free to leave the club before the season has potentially concluded.
Addressing the subject, Phil Hay commented:
“Bear in mind that numerous clubs face the same problem, so it makes sense for them to reach a common agreement which either extends the loans or provides some other form of contingency. More complicated, I think, is the matter of players who are out of contract. Technically, they would be able to depart on July 1 and I imagine that legally, there’s no way of preventing them going if they refuse to stick around. Costa is effectively signed already, so that transfer will fall into place regardless but yes, the options/obligations for [Jack] Harrison/[Jean-Kevin] Augustin would probably need amending.”
As such, Hay’s comments on Helder Costa would suggest that although the player is currently on loan from Wolves, a permanent deal is expected to be completed this summer.
In other cases, such as that of Jean-Kevin Augustin and Jack Harrison, it appears that the deals would have to be amended, should the season conclude after July 1.