, Leeds United – Monk walk likely means no Bartley return

Leeds United – Monk walk likely means no Bartley return

Earlier today, with Leeds United fans basking in the warm glow of a stated repurchase of Elland Road, Garry Monk walked in and dropped a bombshell. It came in the format of his resignation letter.

Bolt out of the blue, totally unexpected, unforeseen circumstances, essentially you can throw any phrase out there but Monk walking out on Leeds United was a definite surprise for Leeds United fans. the fallout is still reverberating on Twitter with angry Leeds fans displaying their ire.

As well as Monk’s leaving creating a vacancy that ex-Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka is favourite to fill, it also has likely ramifications elsewhere. For instance, Whites fans aren’t likely to see Kyle Bartley return to grace the Leeds United side on a permanent transfer.

Monk dipped into his ‘little black book’ when he brought Bartley to Leeds from Swansea, in a way rescuing him from a kind of footballing limbo. Since signing for the Swans in 2012, his time has been limited to just 26 appearances, another 19 appearances (five goals) coming in a half-season loan spell with Birmingham City from July 2013 to January 2014.

But the Manchester-born former Arsenal youth player has overcome that sense of inaction and put together not only a solid run of games, but with a solid set of performances to match – performances that brought six goals and many plaudits for Leeds’ rock at the back.

For his part, Bartley was more than happy and honoured to have represented what he terms a “great club,” his admiration for the Whites shining through the words that he carefully chooses to express what he wants to say. On representing Leeds, he says in the above interview: “It’s been fantastic, the fans, the staff, the manager everyone has been really brilliant for me,” before going on to say that his time at Elland Road has been instrumental in seeing him grow up as both a player and a person.

Bartley’s respect for Garry Monk shines through in everything that he has to say about his former boss at Swansea, who has been his temporary boss at Elland Road. Admitting his candid nature, saying that maybe he was “a little too honest,” that it is time for the owners of the club, at the time he was speaking, Massimo Cellino and Andrea Radrizzani, to “step up and to make sure that the manager stays.”

However, perhaps the most shocking point that he made in the near five-minute interview was his end comment regarding his direct feelings on the position of Garry Monk at Leeds United. In a direct call to the owners of the club, Bartley said it was time for Cellino and Radrizzani to get around the negotiating table and sort out the direction the club needs to take – placing Monk at the very centre of those concerns.

Speaking quite abruptly on the situation the on-loan Swansea man stated: “He’s [Monk’s] been fantastic and if the owners can’t see that, and if the owners can’t get him tied down, then it probably wouldn’t be a place where I wanted to be because they need to have a vision and the manager is that vision in my eyes.”

That “inability to get him [Monk] tied down“, is the likely cross that Leeds United fans will have to bear if Kyle Bartley doesn’t turn up on a permanent deal at Elland Road. They were strong words, hiding a stronger resolve, from Kyle Bartley.

If his words are to be taken at face value, and said to be representative of his true feelings, then Whites fans are more likely to suffer the return of Giuseppe Bellusci rather than the return of Kyle Bartley.

Should Leeds ignore Monk walking and go for Kyle Bartley?

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