Champion and MVP - Ramon Nunez

Almost a week until our next fixture and with ‘silly season’ providing a remarkable absence of talking points, we thought we’d do a round-up on things we couldn’t be bothered covering earlier.

Clayton returns to Elland Road

Following the departure of Andy Hughes, Adam Clayton has returned from his loan spell with Peterborough United to give Simon Grayson an extra option in midfield.

After joining Peterborough in November on a month long loan, Clayton impressed former manager Gary Johnson enough to have his loan spell extended,  He went on to make six appearances for The Posh.

40 minutes and counting…

I don’t like these mid-season international competitions at the best of times, partly because the footballing standard is on a par with the MLS, but mainly because it causes massive disruption to the English clubs who pay these players wages.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to ignorantly preach “club before country” because I understand how important these competitions are to players like Killa. However, the timing of them is quite frankly ridiculous. Is it really beyond the realms of possibility to arrange such tournaments to fit the European schedule? After all, most of the key players make their living over here and we’re the ones affected by it.

As it stands, Kilkenny has missed five games for Leeds United so far, just so he could play 40 minutes of football for Australia! Congratulations to Australia for reaching the final, but what benefit has Neil Kilkenny got from playing 40 minutes of football at a lower level than he otherwise would have done?

Nunez named MVP

In other pointless International competition news, Ramon Nunez helped Honduras to win the Centro Americo Cup and was named as the competition’s ‘Most Valuable Player’.

I think that pretty much sums up how pointless these tournaments are – the most valuable, and therefore one would assume, best player currently spends his time as a bench warmer at a second tier English club. Congrats to Ramon all the same.

Somma loving

Simon Grayson admits Davide Somma has reason to feel aggrieved with his lack of first team action in recent months, but insists he’s a victim of circumstance rather than anything more sinister.

The Gaffer points to the change in formation from early season where Somma was deployed to devastating effect in a 4-4-2 formation alongside Luciano Becchio. Since then, Somma has had to make do with the occasional substitute appearance as Leeds United switched to a 4-5-1 formation with Becchio alone up front.

Clearly a big fan of Somma, Grayson said;

“He’s a natural finisher, he covers the ground elegantly and he’s got a nice touch and an eye for goal. He does it every day in training, which is why we took him on in the first place and signed him on a long-term contract.”