Football Inisder reported back in October that Leeds were set to send Ryan Edmondson out on loan this month if they brought in a new striker.With Jean-Kevin Augustin joiningÂthis week, one would be excused for thinking that his arrival would be a catalyst for Edmondson to leave Elland Road on a temporary basis.However, that isn’t the case as Phil Hay stated on Twitter that Marcelo Bielsa doesn’t want the teenager to move away before the transfer deadline passed.

That begs the question, why does the Argentine want to keep the youngster at the club if he’s just going to be stuck with the U23s.

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We’ve recently heard that Bielsa doesn’t rate the striker, and that’s backed up by the fact that he’s not been making the bench despite the fact that United have been without a backup number nine for a number of weeks after Eddie Nketiah was recalled by Arsenal.

So, why is Bielsa choosing to stifle his development like this?

Edmondson netted 20 goals for the U23s last term, so he’s proven pretty much all he can at that level. Surely it’s time for him to try his hand in senior football.

This is doing nobody any favours, Bielsa now has adequate backup up front, so it’s unlikely that Edmondson will get a run in the first team anytime soon, and there really isn’t much more he can do at youth level to force himself into the Argentine’s plans.

It’s a selfish call from the manager. A loan could do the forward the world of good, but the 64-year-old has left him in a middle ground where he’s not going to get a go with the first-team, but he’s a bit too good to still be playing academy football.

The loan window is, of course, still open for another three weeks, but it looks as though he’ll stay in Yorkshire.

In other news, Phil Hay has tipped one highly-rated U23 player to leave Leeds.