According to Goal, Leeds United are no longer able to sign Arsenal youth player Krystian Bielik on a season-long loan, as the Poland youth international defensive midfielder has suffered a shoulder injury that could rule him out of action for 8 weeks.
The 19-year-old versatile player impressed on loan with Birmingham City last term following his January arrival, and another loan move was being weighed up in order for him to continue his development.
Leeds, alongside Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Eintracht Frankfurt were all linked with being interested in having the talented Bielik for 2017-18.
However, following the unforeseen and plan-shattering development, the Peacocks will now have to look for either another defensive midfielder or centre-back, as Bielik’s ability to play both roles was one of the reasons he was on their radar.
Manager Thomas Christiansen has been up and running this summer as far as squad restructuring goes, and while another target for the aforementioned departments could still be pursued, that he has at least 4 quality options for each of the role makes Bielik’s loss less threatening.
In deep midfield, Kalvin Phillips, Eunan O’Kane, Ronaldo Vieira and Mateusz Klich are expected to vie for regular playing time, while the quartet of Pontus Jansson, Liam Cooper, Matthew Pennington and Luke Ayling are quality options at centre-defence.
