Things haven’t gone too well for Leeds United this season, with Javi Gracia picking up the pieces of the team and hoping to be able to have enough to work with to keep them up.
It’s a big ask for a team in poor form and only out of the Premier League’s bottom three on goal difference, but that won’t stop Gracia giving it a good go.
One player who joined amidst a fanfare at the beginning of the campaign has slipped right down the pecking order and, according to journalist Dean Jones, may be one to leave at the end of 2022/23.
Rasmus Kristensen had signed for a not insignificant sum of £10m to rejoin former Leeds manager, Jesse Marsch, whom he had worked with at RB Salzburg.
According to WhoScored, Kristensen has only played once in the Premier League this year, and even then that was only for 45 minutes.
The change of manager and Luke Ayling’s current form has appeared to be what’s behind the lack of involvement for the Dane.
“I just can’t see him getting into this team. I mean, Ayling epitomises everything that this fanbase is about, they love him,” Jones told Give Me Sport.
“His performances are pretty good, to be honest, considering what else they’ve got to work with at the moment.”
For any player, the only way to restore any confidence is by playing, and given Leeds’ current predicament, Gracia is hardly likely to be taking any chances at this stage.
From Kristensen’s point of view, he needs to get his head down and work hard in order to give Gracia a headache come team selection time.