Coach’s glowing verdict on ‘outstanding’ £5m man vindicates Leeds United transfer decision
Leeds United’s on-loan midfielder has been backed to become a top Championship player.
Plymouth Argyle assistant coach Pete Shuttleworth believes Darko Gyabi can become a ‘top’ Championship player once the Leeds United loanee performs close to his best on a consistent basis.
Leeds sent Gyabi on loan to Plymouth for a second time in as many seasons this summer, with the 20-year-old keen to impress at Home Park after undergoing groin surgery and cutting his previous spell short. A set-back suffered in pre-season further hindered the midfielder’s development but he returned in time to feature on the opening weekend – albeit in a 4-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
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Since that defeat, Gyabi has been improving week-on-week and his best performance of the season coincided with a first win for the Pilgrims last weekend against then league leaders Sunderland. The midfielder was snappy in the tackle and composed on the ball, producing the kind of all-round performance that encouraged Shuttleworth enough to issue high praise.
“The second half last Saturday was outstanding, that’s him and defines him as a player,” Shuttleworth told Plymouth Live of Gyabi. “That’s what we as coaches need to work with, to develop that to become the norm 90 minutes every week and he will become a top player in this league.
“We had good reports about what he was like as a player, and whether we could add him to the squad and use those qualities. He then had a little setback in pre-season and I think it just took him back off his sharpness a little bit. He started the season probably not quite there.
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“He’s quite an explosive player, he gets across the ground and he goes and bites into tackles, and if you are not quite there sometimes that can be quite evident with those types of players. I think now we are seeing Darko getting back to those early pre-season levels. Second half on Saturday he was excellent and that’s where we need to build from.”
Leeds decision vindicated
With Leeds keen to bring in more senior midfield options, game-time for Gyabi was always going to be lacking if he stayed at Elland Road and so a loan move suited all parties. But unlike other similar exits, namely Sam Greenwood, club chiefs opted against allowing any kind of permanent option.
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In fact, Argyle director of football Neil Dewsnip confirmed his side’s opening offer for Gyabi was a permanent one. “Darko wasn’t on the market to be bought,” he admitted in July. “Leeds didn’t encourage that discussion. We did have a little nibble at that but it wasn’t really on their agenda, but to get him back on loan was the next best thing we could do, and that’s what we have achieved.”
Having returned to Thorp Arch with a serious injury and failed to enjoy a solid run of football in his first spell at Plymouth, Gyabi remained a relative unknown at senior level and so Leeds were unlikely to break even on the £5million they paid Manchester City back in 2022. And so instead of booking a loss, club chiefs decided on another loan spell and already look to have been vindicated.
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Gyabi will enter the final year of his Leeds contract next summer and so there will be a decision to make on his long-term future, but a full campaign of regular football should provide more clarity on where the youngster stands among Daniel Farke’s squad. All involved will be hoping the City academy prospect can stay fit and continue to improve.
Related topics:ChampionshipPlymouth
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