At the time of Sol Bamba’s release we were told that it was all down to personal reasons, but now Garry Monk has revealed it was his idea all along.

Leeds were offering Bamba for sale during the transfer window, as Monk and his staff worked to bring in the players they wanted while trying to keep the wage bill down by shipping out the squad members who weren’t part of his plans.

When the August 31st deadline came and went with no takers, it seemed as though the Ivory Coast international would be staying with Leeds till the new year, but the following day saw the surprise announcement that his contract was to be cancelled by “mutual consent”. Bamba has returned to France to spend time with his family and has begun the search for a new club, which he would be able to join outside the window now that he is a free agent.

Bamba first came to Leeds in January 2015 and seemed a commanding central defender in his first half season, although his lack of pace was cruelly exposed in the game when Watford came back from two down to beat us 3-2. But last season he started to make some crazy unforced errors, often conceding possession in some dangerous areas of the field.

He was also critical of Massimo Cellino’s running of the club on two occasions, which can’t have helped his prospects at Elland Road. But it was probably his niggling unreliability that caused the new head coach to drop him from the starting line-up after the first two defeats, and things came to a head when Bamba didn’t even make the squad for the trip to Nottingham Forest.

Monk told the Yorkshire Post “I spoke with Sol and I told him that I didn’t think it was a good situation for him not being in the squad, that it wouldn’t be a healthy situation. We had a good discussion and he understood totally where I was coming from. We wish him all the best. I’m here to get the squad to where it needs to be.”

“These are the decisions you have to make and whatever decisions I make, they’ll always be for the good of the group and the good of the club. That’s my job and that’s what I’ve been brought in to do.” Bamba was also the club captain, and Bridcutt is believed to be the most likely man to replace him in that role.

Bamba’s departure has left three central defenders on the books at Leeds - Kyle Bartley, Pontus Jansson and Liam Cooper. But the Forest defeat showed that we still have work to do to organise the defence, as we still concede too easily from set pieces. Monk should be the man to sort them out, as a former central defender himself, and will have no excuses now that he’s been able bring in some players of his own choice.

Neil Redfearn has recently criticised the decision to release Bamba when he spoke to Yorkshire Radio, but I think Monk did the right thing, as Bamba was too big a liablility for too long. Redfearn does of course have a vested interest in defending Bamba, as it was his decision to bring him to Leeds in the first place.

In terms of the squad as a whole, Monk said “We’ve moved 11 players out, we’ve brought 11 in and that’s never easy to do. Ideally I would have loved to have added another striker, but the club deserve credit for what they’ve done. Overall it’s been a successful window.”

Another former head coach, in the large shape of Steve Evans, has suggested that Monk could be out if we lose to Huddersfield, but hopefully that’s just speculation. Monk has had quite a tough start, with the four teams we’ve failed to beat all being in the top seven, and the league leaders to come on Saturday.

But at least if he survives that he’ll have some light relief in the next home game after that, in the shape of bottom club Blackburn. The Cellino era has left so many ex-head coaches in it’s wake that it’s always likely that one of them will pop up in the media on any given day, but it’s doubtful that any of them have any inside knowledge of what is now going on at the club.

We’ll just have to hope that our unpredictable chairman will give Monk will be given the time he needs to mould all the new players into a successful squad.

Photo: Action Images

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