Speaking recently on the All Leeds TV YouTube channel, Beren Cross stated his belief that Marcelo Bielsa is not a fan of Leeds United youth player, Ryan Edmondson.
Since making his Leeds debut as a 16-year-old under Paul Heckingbottom back in 2018, Edmondson has only gone on to make one further first-team appearance for the club, playing a grand total of just 35 minutes of football for Leeds.
The 19-year-old was sent on loan to Aberdeen earlier this year, featuring for the club in their season-opening defeat to Rangers, however, he then suffered an ankle injury in training, ruling him out for three to four months, and was subsequently returned to Leeds.
Following the confirmation of his return to England, the forward tweeted that he was ‘absolutely gutted’ that he had picked the injury up, and that he would try his ‘very best to get back fit’ in order to ‘join the boys back up at Pittodrie’.
On the subject of Edmondson, Cross was recently asked on the All Leeds TV YouTube channel why the striker has not been present on the bench for Leeds, to which the journalist responded by stating his belief that there is something about Edmondson that Leeds boss Bielsa does not like.
He said: “I think it comes down to Bielsa, doesn’t it? There’s only so much we see in matches, and there’s only so much Bielsa is going to say in press conferences, and I think actions speak louder than words.
“It’s pretty obvious when you look at how happy Bielsa is to put kids on the bench – we’ve seen [Oliver] Casey, [Pascal] Struijk, [Bryce] Hosannah, [Alfie] McCalmont, [Robbie] Gotts, [Leif] Davis, they’ve all been on the bench at some point when needed, but even when we’ve been down a striker, he hasn’t put Edmondson on the bench.
“We’re jumping to conclusions somewhat, but surely the assumption is that Edmondson is just not good enough in Bielsa’s eyes. There’s clearly something Edmondson isn’t doing to impress Bielsa because he’s happy to put them on the bench, so if he’s not putting you on the bench, there’s got to be a reason why.”
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TIF Thoughts…
From Cross’ comments, then, it would certainly appear as if the journalist is of the belief that Edmondson is not good enough, in the opinion of the manager, to get near the Leeds first team.
With the recent addition to the squad of Rodrigo, it would indeed appear as if there is now even less chance of the 19-year-old forward featuring for the club, which could be why Edmondson was loaned out to Aberdeen in the first place.