Step by step, heart to heart, left, right, left we all fall down like toy soldiers.
Those are the first lines of American songwriter Martika’s 1988 classic ‘Toy Soldiers’, which was most famously sampled by Eminem on his ‘Like Toy Soldiers’ single.
Alternatively it can easily refer to the current injury status at Elland Road as Leeds United lurch between adjectives such as ‘rash’ and ‘spate’ as each new case is unearthed.
The latest to drop is Leeds #1 keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, a knee injury doing it for the youngster. This is a situation even more coated in the brown stuff bearing in mind his back-up has just returned to parent club Chelsea with a broken leg.
For the Whites, that means one of two remedies. They can either dip into the Under-23s and promote the likes of Kamil Miazek and Will Huffer. However, failing that, they can also look to the ’emergency loan’ market for a more experienced stand-in than either of the two youngsters.
Yet, there is a potential spanner in the works in one respect:
Done a bit of digging on emergency goalkeeper rules. A Championship club can’t sign from the Premier League. PL doesn’t allow it. So for Leeds it’s a loan from the EFL, sign a free agent or go with Huffer/Miazek. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) November 22, 2018
So, that rules out Burnley’s Tom Heaton, a player mentioned in certain circles as a player the Whites supposedly had designs on. With the Premier League out of the reckoning, that realistically leaves just the Championship, and likely third-choice or lower keepers up for offer.
There is actually a third option – the free agent market. Here Leeds United could bring in a player free of any ties to the club for the rest of the season. Trouble is, with the next transfer window just over a month away, is this an option that the Whites would want to explore?
