In all fairness, he has done pretty well at Hull and has been getting appearances for them. Certainly a threat going forwards at pace down the flanks, but probably the greatest weakness, as with us, was not tackling back and going missing at times. I know that he is not allowed to play for us after ending his loan at Hull this coming week, but I can see the promise in him. Plenty of power and pace and, if we're to persist in playing two wide men up top, i would keep him. However, it looks as though he got very disillusioned with us and that his head wasn't in the right place for whatever reason and, unless we can get his attitude right in wanting to play for us, I can't see anything other than our letting him go. However, that will be if we get a decent bid for him. Hull will be his first choice, but he is under contract to us, so we can call the price. Worst case scenario - he doesn't want to play for us and we won't let him go for anything less than a decent cut of what we paid Leeds for him. I would like him to stay and succeed with us. I think that he could be a real threat for Hull if they are relegated to division one this season. Neither us, nor Hull, nor Mallik need an impasse.
I'm certainly not writing him off. But, for me, he has to produce far more than he's done so far in a Barnsley shirt. Also, I'm assuming nothing has gone off behind the scenes between him and the Head Coach. If it hasn't, then perhaps he can still have a future with us.
I’d give the lad a new slate here to see what he can do. I’ve no idea what his attitude is like but surely working under a different manager and having a more settled team around him could be a more stable base for him to start again.
My suspicion with him is he is clearly very talented but lacks the ability to motivate himself easily. That for me explains why he can look a world beater and Sunday league within a couple of games. Some players just click and find it over time, others just never quite get there.
