Leeds United: Phil Hay gives insight into Ryan Edmondson’s situation

Leeds United-oriented journalist Phil Hay has given some insight into the situation of the club’s striker Ryan Edmondson.

In the latest episode of ‘The Phil Hay Show’, the journalist focused on the situation of Edmondson. Hay revealed that the 19-year-old underwent surgery before lockdown and that he can’t get to the level that Marcelo Bielsa needs him to be.

Edmondson’s current deal at Elland Road runs out in the summer of 2021. The young Englishman had spent his early years at York City’s youth academy and joined Leeds in November 2017 (via Transfermarkt).

While talking about the 19-year-old in regards to his chances of first-team football, Hay provided some valuable insight.

The journalist said: “It was funny with Edmondson, because it was apparent for a long time that he wasn’t ticking the right boxes for Bielsa. You saw a lot of [Under] 23s who were involved, and a lot of 23s who were making the matchday squads, and he was never one of them, regardless of how short Leeds were up front.

“Bielsa does use him a lot in training because he’s big and he’s strong. He’s very good for mixing it with the centre-backs and for setting up these 11v11 games that Bielsa likes to do.

“But he had an operation just before the shutdown on his ankle and Bielsa was specifically asked about him and he said ‘actually, his training has just started to come to the level that I want it to be at’. And it’s hit that point right at the stage where it turns out that he needs an operation.

“Given that he’s had surgery and given that he’ll have been recovering from that, we come back to the same issue with [Jean-Kevin] Augustin, which is that Edmondson can’t possibly be match-fit at the moment in Bielsa’s eyes, and there are no Under-23 fixtures to use him in. There’s no way of really enhancing his recovery and his fitness at a rate that would make him available.”

So clearly, a lot has gone on with Edmondson over the last few months and a lot of it isn’t promising. Just when he seemed to be reaching the level that Bielsa wanted, he had to undergo surgery and he has to get his fitness back on track once again.

TIF Thoughts…

Things don’t really look positive for Edmondson as things stand. The youngster has made only two Championship appearances for Leeds over the years and both of those appearances came before this campaign. In total, he’s played only 35 minutes of first-team football for the Whites (via Transfermarkt).

Physically, Bielsa’s system and style demands a lot from players and considering how Hay talks about Edmondson’s fitness issues, it is certainly tough to see how the youngster can make an impact this season. Edmondson should now look to get his fitness back on track and keep working hard or he might not have a future at Elland Road.