Leeds United must search for January solution for player Daniel Farke clearly no longer trusts – View
Leeds United defender Leo Hjelde looked to be handed a great opportunity at the start of the season, but has seriously fallen out of favour since then.
Leeds’ threadbare squad during the summer meant that a lot of youngsters were going to get the nod under Daniel Farke in pre-season and the early stages of the campaign.
One of those was Leo Hjelde, who started the season as the club’s only real option at left-back, before Sam Byram came in and made the position his own.
Where is Leo Hjelde now?
With three appearances to his name in August, Hjelde looked like someone Farke wanted to get a better look at after he was loaned out to Rotherham United for the second half of last season, still a raw presence in defence despite his talent.
He struggled against Cardiff City and then in the EFL Cup against Shrewsbury, both times hooked at the break to be replaced by Byram, who helped change the course of both fixtures.
For Norway’s under-21 side, he managed 135 minutes across two fixtures over this international break, with more action coming for his country since the start of September than he has managed even for Leeds’ under-21 side, playing once in the PL International Cup win over Nice.
Would you welcome any of the loan players back?
Should we loan Hjelde out?
Following those two poor performances, Hjelde did fairly well against Salford City as Leeds were knocked out on penalties (he scored his), but that was against League Two opposition, and it proves that Farke isn’t at all trusting of him right now.
Hjelde has been out of the squad altogether since the 0-0 draw against Sheffield Wednesday and that is just not good for a 20-year-old centre-back with his talent.
We know that he’s not going to be playing in the middle of defence for us any time soon with Pascal Struijk shining, and he’s shown that he just isn’t a left-back full stop.
His move to Rotherham did help him acclimatise to the league, but it wasn’t enough for him to safely say he’s totally ready for a 46-game Championship season, so you’d hope that the club see January as a great chance for him to go out again.
Whether it be the top end of League One or the bottom end of the Championship, Hjelde is going to be much better off heading out, than staying here and playing virtually no football.
