Leeds have finally completed the loan signing of Liam Bridcutt from Sunderland, but Will Buckley has gone back in the opposite direction.

Buckley has officially been recalled by the ‘Black Cats’, but that was only because Steve Evans admitted to Sam Allardyce that he was unlikely to unlikely to feature too often in our first team. He was originally signed in the final days of Uwe Rosler brief spell in charge, to operate in his system of having a lone striker and two wingers to supply the crosses.

But then Steve Evans arrived, and the new boss thought we had a surfeit of wingers, while the squad was lacking in other areas. In his preferred 4-4-2 system it’s a bit of a luxury to have two specialist wingers and yet he found three in the squad he inherited. He obviously thinks that Stuart Dallas and Jordan Botaka are better options when we do need a bit of width, so Buckley has been the one to leave.

The incoming Liam Bridcutt is a central midfield player, who usually operates in a defensive role in front of the back four, but can play further forward if need be. The ‘emergency loan’ deal was completed this morning, but if all goes well we will have the option to extend his stay till the end of the season. It’s taken a while to secure the deal, but Bridcutt chose to join us when two other clubs in the division had also been after him.

Steve Evans told the official site “We’re delighted. When I first came in and assessed the squad, I looked at that central area and I wanted somebody that carries the qualities of Liam in there. He’s high energy and he really is a step up in terms of the quality of everything he does. But he has to come and endorse and embrace what we do because we’ve got some very good players in there.”

And Bridcutt told LUTV why he chose to come to Leeds when he had other options. “From speaking to the manager he’s given me the confidence to come here and show what I can do. When the manager shows so much interest in you and puts so much faith in you, you always want to repay that with your performances. That is one of the main reasons I have come here. He’s given me a good opportunity to come and play and hopefully I can do that.”

As Bridcutt has been out of favour at the Stadium of Light we might have expected him to be a bit short of fitness, but Evans expects him to be ready to play on Saturday, though he may not get into the starting line-up just yet. It remains to be seen whose place he would take if and when he does get a start, but with Cook, Mowatt and Dallas currently in favour it could be Murphy to make way.

This could leave Adeyemi and Sloth slipping even further down the pecking order, with fewer opportunities for young Kalvin Phillips, and for Thomasso Bianchi when he returns to fitness. For some time it’s been suggested that Sloth is likely to go out on loan, and with the number of midfielders we now have it’s quite possible that at least one of the others will also be heading elsewhere quite soon.

Hopefully Bridcutt’s loan signing will be more successful than that of Buckley. But we have been lacking a bit of bite in midfield in a couple of games recently, most notably last Saturday against Rotherham, so when he gets fully fit he might be just the player we need.

Photo: Action Images

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