Leeds United are in amongst the relegation-threatened teams in the Premier League with only a handful of games left to play, and Javi Gracia probably wishes he could count on the services of a fan favourite who has recently admitted that he rejected the chance to re-join the club.
Mateusz Bogusz is now a Los Angeles FC player and will ply his trade in MLS, though before he signed a permanent deal with the club, Leeds were, apparently, looking to extend his stay in Yorkshire.
He had been on loan at UD Ibiza and, as he told Przeglad Sportowy, when that deal had come to a conclusion the Elland Road based outfit were hoping to persuade him to be part of the squad again.
“There was interest [from LAFC] already in January, but then Ibiza didn’t let me go. They did not want to agree to shorten the loan with Leeds,” he was quoted as saying.
“But the matter was not over. It was obvious that in Los Angeles, they had a clear plan for me. I’ve learned a few things about this club, I’ve seen the training centre they have and I’m happy to be here.
“I had heard that there were some(offers), but they were more like the possibility of another loan.
“I also had the option of a longer contract with Leeds. There I signed a three-year contract with an option to extend it and the club wanted to take advantage of it, so I could return to Leeds next season.”
Given Leeds’ current predicament – they are 13th in the Premier League table with nine games left but are only two points above the bottom three – one can surely see the logic in Bogusz’s decision to steer clear.
Compare that with LAFC’s position of third in the MLS Western Conference, just four points behind leaders, St Louis City SC, and with a game in hand per Sky Sports, and the move to the United States makes even more sense for the player.