He’s not getting a look-in.
Leeds United are having a moment. The Championship club are flying high under new boss Marcelo Bielsa, the revered Argentine tactician who counts Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino as his most high-profile disciples.
The Yorkshire club beat Rotherham United 2-0 on Saturday to maintain their 100% record this season, sparking early hopes of finally sealing promotion back to the Premier League after a 15-year absence.
Few clubs go through managers like Leeds. Since Neil Warnock left in April 2013, ten managers have assumed command of first-team duties. After Paul Heckingbottom left at the end of last season, the club turned to Bielsa, the notoriously eccentric coach who quit Lazio after just two days.
It was a risk, but one that has so far paid off wonderfully. The team are playing an attractive brand of football and delivering results.
One man who has played no part in Bielsa’s revolution, however, is Eunan O’Kane.
The Republic of Ireland international featured regularly for Leeds last season but has yet to even make one of Bielsa’s matchday squads. He’s not the only first-teamer going through a hard time, as Vurnon Anita and Caleb Ekuban also struggling to break their way back into the starting line-up.
But Bielsa insists it’s nothing personal. While he values the trio’s previous contributions to Leeds, the 63-year-old revealed he has decided to plump for youth at Elland Road, giving the club’s brightest prospects a chance to develop.
“When a professional player has a history as a football player, for example Anita, O’Kane and Ekuban have history, one way to respect them is to keep them inside the team if they have the possibility to play in another position,” the former Chile head coach said.
“If we have one position and three players it’s very difficult that the third player in the position gets time to play. I saw every game and every minute that they played last year and I also listened to the opinion of the club.
“If you haven’t trained a player it’s a deficit to make a decision. We then built a group where we have two players for each position and if we had acted in another way it would have been counterproductive.“For example, I have Ayling, Dallas and Shackleton, because Shackleton is a youngster who has time to develop in his career, but I can’t do the same thing with Ayling, Dallas and Anita.
“I would be doing something not very good to one of the three players, so when you take decisions you have to transmit them at the right moment and I think this is an honest behaviour.”
Having been deemed surplus to requirements at Bournemouth before joining Leeds, it looks as though Derry native O’Kane will be on the hunt for a new club sooner rather than later.
