Depending on who you believe, Eddie Nketiah could be heading back to Arsenal in January.
One wouldn’t blame the Gunners for recalling him either. The 20-year-old has failed to start a single game in the league and he hasn’t scored for Leeds since October.
However, there are conflicting reports on the striker. Alan Nixon has suggested that Nketiah will stay beyond January but Phil Hay has claimed Leeds aren’t completely confident of keeping him.
Either way, it’s been a troubled loan spell at Elland Road.
Nketiah arrived in west Yorkshire having learned from some of the very best English football has had to offer. He worked under Freddie Ljungberg in Arsenal’s U23s last term while he’s also heeded the advice of Thierry Henry.
But little prepares you for being stuck behind a forward who went a period of ten games without scoring.
Patrick Bamford has now found form, scoring six in his last eight, but for a period of time the Arsenal youngster couldn’t even get in the team when others were failing.
It is symptomatic of a player who despite scoring five times in the early months of the campaign, hasn’t been at the races.
But with January now fast approaching, Marcelo Bielsa has given the £7.2m-rated man a lifeline.
For the second half against Fulham, he opted to field Bamford and Nketiah in a pairing up front. It brought about a goal too, as Gjanni Alioski found the latter in the channel before his shot was fired in on the rebound by his partner in attack.
It showed the potential the two can bring in the final third. However, it came with a sacrifice. Bielsa admitted that creativity was lacking behind them but that brief glimpse we got of the duo working in tandem is enough to believe a revival could be on the cards.
A true test for any Leeds fan: Can you match these iconic images with the right results?
With Pablo Hernandez set for a spell on the sidelines, there would be worse ideas than continuing to partner the two strikers together.
After all, Leeds are still mightily behind on their xG and finding a way to score more goals could become key in achieving promotion.
Equally, it might just be enough to keep Arsenal at arm’s length next month as well.
In other news, Leeds have identified their replacement for if Nketiah departs…