Jermaine Beckford has withdrawn his transfer request and decided to stay with Leeds United until the end of the season. The striker released a statement saying;

“After a lot of thinking over the last few days I have decided to withdraw my transfer request and commit my immediate future to Leeds United.

“It was never a comfortable decision to ask for a transfer in the first place, but after the game against Manchester United and the unbelievable reaction from the Leeds United supporters in the Wycombe match I have decided I want to finish what I have been striving to do for the last two seasons – and that is to help promote Leeds United out of a division which the club doesn’t belong

“Every time I put on the Leeds United shirt I give 100 per cent and can assure the fans, the manager and everyone connected with the club that I will continue to do that”

Whilst this is clearly great news in terms of stability for the club in the immediate future, I can’t help but be a little cynical of this announcement. My initial thoughts are that maybe the offers him and his slimy agent had expected weren’t forthcoming.

I question how commited anyone can be with such a short amount of time remaining on their contract. Just because he’s here until May doesn’t mean we’re going to see the end of the speculation. When we get to March-April and the most important games of the season we’re going to be hearing rumours every day suggesting he’s signed a pre-contract elsewhere. The best way to end all this is still to sign a new contract.

On the more positive side, this will hopefully settle the team in the short term after they delivered two abject performances against Wycombe and Exeter. We need to get back on track and hopefully, this will be the boost everyone has needed.