Leeds risk losing starlet who's blown senior teammates away at Thorp Arch

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Published on:

07 May 2020, 10:30 am

The clock is ticking for Leeds United as they risk losing rising Oliver Casey in the coming weeks.

The 19-year-old has been promoted to the United first team this season and won praise from Marcelo Bielsa for his impressive development.

But Casey's contract, the first he signed as a professional, is due to expire at the end of June and United have yet to tie him down amid huge uncertainty in the Championship over completion of the season.

How Bielsa knew Casey was mentally ready for today: "One clear fact is when his team-mates accept him or not. The group has a sixth sense to realise which players they want close to them or not." Got the thumbs up from his team-mates in training. #lufc
— Beren Cross (@BerenCross) December 7, 2019

Casey is primarily a centre-back but, like loan star Ben White, can also play in a defensive midfield role.

He signed his current deal as a 17-year-old in November 2018 and that is set to expire next month.

It would be a surprise if Leeds let him go given that he made his senior debut in December and was subsequently on the bench for 10 Championship matches.

That included the last match United played, a 2-0 win against Huddersfield before the season was suspended in mid-March.

Bielsa promoted Casey to the first team after explaining how the senior Leeds players had given him the thumbs-up in training.

Ex-Leeds star Noel Whelan has suggested the youngster's future is one the club will be trying to sort out behind the scenes.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa hunches over

"The fact he's not put pen to paper right now, it's going to be very, very difficult to get things sorted out while this (lockdown) is going on," Whelan told Football Insider.

"Players are away at home but I'm pretty sure the club are speaking to his representatives, speaking to the player over the phone or over Skype, whatever way they want to do it. To be quite honest the player will be out of the picture.

In other Leeds United news, there's been a big twist in Radrizzani's £300m masterplan after extensive takeover talks.

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