Leeds United Loan Links: A Realistic Prospect?

When it comes to loans between Lincoln and Leeds United, two really stand out.

One was the recent acquisition of Robbie Gotts, a decent midfielder who struggled to break into a really good Lincoln City side. The other was Davide Somma, arguably the best loan deal the Imps have ever secured (and yes, that includes Brennan Johnson).

With Michael Skubala joining the Imps as head coach, there’s been a slew of articles suggesting that we could look to Elland Road for loans in the winter window. Obviously, if they were as talented as Gotts (who I liked) and as impactful as Somma, we’d have them in a heartbeat, but is it a realistic option?

Firstly, I don’t think Michael Skubala coming to Sincil Bank is going to be the reason we now head to Leeds for loans. The club’s transfer system is fairly robust, and very rarely does a player arrive at the club who has fully bypassed the recruitment strategy. In the past, I’ve been told at least two did – Remy Longdon and Chris Maguire, but almost all of our other signings went through the usual process of scouting, analysis and the like. Whilst Skubala will be absolutely backed in his quest to improve the side, I don’t think for a second he’ll come in, click his fingers and suddenly we have three young loans, similar to Chris Sutton back in 2009/10. It doesn’t work like that.

If we do choose to go down that route, it is likely we will already have sought to scout these players, they’ll likely be on our radar. We’ll come to that in a second, but there’s another factor to consider – do we think Skubala will want any of his young Leeds players here? That’s not to say they’re not talented, but he made it clear after the game we need to be stronger, so will he turn to young players with limited senior experience to bolster the squad when what he indicated we needed was a bit of strength and power?

There are some options I can see him taking. If he did want to add value to the squad, it would likely come in the wide defensive areas or up top, where we lack a little bit of pace, guile, and we lack bodies. Given that Ben House won’t be kicking a ball in anger much before Valentine’s Day, I can see us adding a forward to the ranks. Mateo Joseph would be one option we could explore, a player who would likely be out of our reach without Skubala but perhaps within our grasp now he is here. Joseph is an England U20 international who has spent some of his youth career at Espanyol. He has been described as ‘a strong and technically proficient forward’ and has drawn comparisons with former Manchester City man Sergio Aguero.

Another option could be left back Leo Hjelde. He is a Norweigian Under 21 international who moved to Leeds from Celtic. He’s had limited exposure to the first team at Elland Road and is perhaps more suited to playing on the left of a four – something we may struggle to find in our current squad. If we stick with wing backs, Jaden Brown and Jordan Burroughs are certainly going to have that area wrapped up, but if we go to a four? Possibly not.

Finally, there’s a chance we could also look at a player such as Sean McGurk. He was signed by Leeds from Wigan and is a wide player with pace and trickery. We do have Dylan Duffy in a similar position, but to retain pace and energy for 90 minutes, swapping wide players is a good option. We saw on Saturday we tried to have some width from the full backs, but with four at the back, that width would likely be provided by wingers, such as McGurk. Perhaps.

Ultimately, if asked whether I think Skubala’s arrival significantly alters our intentions in the window, I would say no. What it may do is allow us access to a quality of player that we did not have before – possibly Joseph, but I seriously doubt it would bring us a whole new face that the club have not been aware of at all.