In a recent report, the Athletic‘s David Ornstein and Phil Hay (two of the most reliable journos out there) revealed that Leeds United have reached an agreement with Bayern Munich for acquiring the services of Michael Cuisance this summer. It is understood that the Whites will sign the French midfielder after agreeing on a fee of around £20m to land him during this ongoing transfer window (via The Athletic).
Cuisance’s Lacklustre Spell At Bavaria
The 21-year-old was a sporadic presence at the Allianz Arena last season after struggling to secure regular first-team football over the past year. Injuries have hampered his development under the stewardship of Hans-Dieter Flick so far, which explains why the Bavarian giants have decided to cash in on him before next month’s transfer deadline.
Cuisance featured in 15 matches for the reigning German champions in the previous campaign, finding the back of the net three times while earning one assist across multiple competitions. The Frenchman ended the 2019-20 campaign with an average of 1.3 shots, 0.6 key passes and 1.3 dribbles per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga. The Straßburg-born even managed to interchange possession well with his teammates at the centre of the park as he completed 84.1% of his attempted passes in the top tier of German football (stats via whoscored).
A permanent move to Elland Road could finally offer him a chance to play regularly at the highest level. However, for that to happen, he must show a clean bill of health and try his best to adjust to Marcelo Bielsa’s hard-working and rip-roaring style of playing football.
What Will The French Prospect Bring To Elland Road?
As mentioned earlier, Cuisance is an accurate distributor of the ball and hardly throws away possession in the middle of the park. He has also added a handful of goals and assists to his name but needs to be more unforgiving in the final third if he intends to become a world-class player someday.
The seven-time French international is not afraid to shoot from long range if given time and space by the opposition and can also make some tireless runs with the ball from midfield. If Bielsa can figure out a way to get the best out him, then he could turn out to be a shrewd signing for the Whites in the long-run.
Is Cuisance The Right For The Whites?
Cuisance was not the most hard-working player in Bayern’s squad last season, so he might struggle to adapt to Bielsa’s intense and tiresome training sessions at West Yorkshire. However, he will enhance the overall depth of the Leeds squad and could increase competition for the likes of Kalvin Phillips, Mateusz Klich, Jamie Shackleton and Adam Forshaw for a spot in the Whites’ midfield week in week out. All in all, Cuisance could prove to be a decent fit for the Yorkshire outfit as long as the player is willing to work hard to improve himself in the coming seasons.
