Monk blackballed senior Leeds quartet - report

Founder & Managing Director AUTHORITY Former chief correspondent at Evening Standard, Goal and Press Association with nearly three decades in national, regional and digital news and sports journalism. Wayne directs the network’s news strategy and high-level operations. FOCUS Editorial direction for the 11-site network and newsroom management. THE BRIEF Wayne oversees the network’s editorial standards across the network. He provides the final sign-off on all headline scoops, ensuring content across all platforms meets the standards required for a high-velocity newsroom.

Published on:

08 Mar 2017, 1:32 pm

By Alex Stevens

Garry Monk was brave enough to freeze out four Leeds players from the start of his managerial reign, according to a report.

The Yorkshire Evening Post claim the manager of the Championship big hitters had total faith in his convictions from day one.

It is said that Monk "blackballed" goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, former captain Sol Bamba and midfield duo Toumani Diagouraga and Luke Murphy immediately after taking over.

He refused to backtrack on those decisions even when Leeds were short of central midfielders in December and he ended up re-deploying attacking midfielders such as Pablo Hernandez and Kemar Roofe in deeper positions.

Bamba started the season in the side before he was axed by Monk and, after failing to secure a new club in the final days of the summer window, he negotiated a release from his contract immediately afterwards and then joined Cardiff as a free agent.

Diagouraga was not selected by the manager ever again after starting the opening game of the season - a 3-0 defeat at QPR - and joined Ipswich on loan in the January window.

Murphy, the third of the quartet who was a regular under ex-manager Steve Evans last season, started a League Cup game in August in his only appearance under Monk before joining Championship rivals Burton in January.

Ex-Chelsea keeper Turnbull has not played a single match this season and appears destined to leave when his contract expires in June without figuring for the ex-Swansea manager.

In other Leeds team news, the club are to pounce and re-sign a 23-year-old after a £10million transfer is all but sealed.

We’ve launched a << BREAKING NEWS FEED>> exclusively for your club. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Leeds breaking news.

Garry Monk

Leeds United