Leeds United had signed Chelsea’s attacking midfielder Izzy Brown last season on a season-long loan. The Whites were well aware that Brown was unlikely to play any football in the first half of the season as Brown was still recovering from his horror injury which saw him rupture his cruciate ligament.
Even when he recovered from that, the attacking midfielder struggled with a hamstring injury which saw him miss further games. Brown played just 11 minutes of football at Elland Road last season over two appearances, and it can be fairly said that the move to bring him in the summer of 2018 flopped big time.
Chelsea again decided to loan him away, and the Englishman now plies his trade for Luton Town. Brown is currently fifth in the list of players with most assists in the Championship. The 22-year-old presently has six assists in all competitions this season and what makes it even more impressive is that he has churned out those numbers with a relative underdog side like Luton Town who are languishing on the 21st spot on the table.
Bielsa recently went on to admit that he wasn’t able to get the best out of Brown at Elland Road. Phil Hay recently conveyed the message by Bielsa on Twitter and said the following.
Bielsa on Izzy Brown's good form at Luton: "I'm happy about that. He was with us and he had very good behaviour here. He's showing a level he didn't show with us. I consider this a mistake of mine. At Luton he is able to compete to play matches. We couldn't give him this."
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) November 21, 2019
Why could Bielsa have gone for him again in the summer?
Ever since the departure of Samuel Saiz in January, the Whites don’t have an outright attacking midfielder in their roster. Bielsa has used his player’s versatility, and he went on to utilise the likes of Kemar Roofe, Tyler Roberts, Pablo Hernandez, Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw in that position since then.
The Whites have struggled to score goals freely this season, and they have lacked the cutting edge in the attacking third. Brown, with his explosiveness and his versatility to play through the middle or on the flanks, would have been a handy addition again in the summer. Last season was always going to be tough for him as he had missed close to a year of action. The Chelsea man took time to get used to demands of the Bielsa system even when he became fit and he never really managed to make a breakthrough in the starting eleven.
United shouldn’t have ignored his qualities, and they could have brought him again in the summer for this season. It would have been easier for him to settle in this campaign as he had already worked under Bielsa and he could have been a crucial player this season. Obviously its easier to comment about this now with hindsight but Brown has done well in the Championship before, and maybe the club could have gone for him again.
