It is usually bad form to throw the towel at a club who pay your wages and expect something in return, but Kandol's fragile prospects were mutually accepted for many months, by him and his employers.

Not for 18 months has he represented a credible option at Elland Road. Earlier this year he trained repeatedly with Charlton Athletic, intending to move to London permanently.

The smart money said that Kandol would join Charlton before the summer was out but the Londoners spent what little money they had elsewhere. At the time, that situation did not suit anybody.

The freedom given to Kandol to find a new club is no secret. Last month, he expressed gratitude to Leeds for doing what they could to open new doors for him, a task made difficult by the long contract he signed in 2007.

Kandol is one of the higher earners at Elland Road and, therefore, one of the higher earners in League One. With two years of that deal to run, his contractual position is more of an issue than most.

It is, then, apparent that Leeds and Kandol would have parted company during the close season had circumstances been different. That is the ironic background to the opportunity that Simon Grayson may be tempted into offering Kandol against Norwich City on Monday night, a selection which United's manager is obliged to ponder. Invisible though he has been for so many months, Kandol is meriting Grayson's consideration.

Steadily and without great acknowledgement, the striker has played his way into form this season. Already, he has scored six goals for United's reserves, a statistic tainted by the level of football at which it has been achieved but worth reporting nonetheless.

On his only start for the club's senior team against Darlington, he scored after 28 minutes and made a positive nuisance of himself. Something in him seems to have stirred.

The question for Grayson with Norwich at Elland Road on Monday night is whether any of this makes Kandol a suitable replacement for the injured Luciano Becchio; a better replacement than Mike Grella or Enoch Showunmi.

A collection of reserve appearances and the completion of 45 minutes in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie do not provide a definitive answer but Grayson can draw the conclusion that Kandol's form is as convincing as that of his other fringe strikers.

The striker is not without his qualities. His strength in the air is an asset going forward and an added line of protection defensively. As he showed at the start of the 2007-08 season, Kandol knows how to score and how to complement Jermaine Beckford.

When Leeds signed Beckford to an extended contract in 2007, they were no less adamant that Kandol should receive new terms, so good was his form.

In truth, the four-year deal given to him has proved to be excessive, if not a mistake.

Among his weaknesses, notably an inability to protect the ball as effectively as Becchio, is the lackadaisical streak which United's supporters picked up on quickly during his initial years with the club.

There is no doubt that Kandol lost the crowd at Elland Road and suffered a crisis of confidence under critical scrutiny. That will be a prime concern if he starts against Norwich next week. But the reverse was shown on Tuesday when the striker left the field during a reserve fixture to the best standing ovation the small crowd could offer.

Grayson, naturally, knows better than to court public opinion. He did not produce 27 points from 11 league matches by asking the press or Leeds supporters to select his team.

Grella scored seven minutes into his first league start this season; Showunmi seemed buoyant during Tuesday's match against Hartlepool's reserves.

But Kandol's form has heightened the debate over who should partner Beckford on Monday (assuming that Grayson maintains his traditional formation and selects two strikers).

The certainty about Norwich is that they will come to Elland Road intending to cause more havoc than Charlton did two weeks ago. Norwich are in form and starting to walk with a swagger.

Throwing Kandol into that combative atmosphere would be a matter of judgment rather than an outlandish gamble and while Becchio remains as doubtful as he is, the emergence of a third alternative cannot be a bad thing. Kandol is there to be used.

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No comment from Leeds United on whether reports that the club received £800,000 from Manchester City for 14-year-olds George Swan and Louis Hutton are accurate.

United settled their claim for compensation from City last month in what the Elland Road club described as an "amicable" agreement.

The cases involving Swan and Hutton had been due to go to a tribunal staged by the Professional Football Compensation Committee, but negotiations between the clubs ensured a private resolution.

United have not revealed the sum paid and City failed to respond to queries made by the YEP.

If the figure of £800,000 is to be believed, it represents a lucrative award, not least because United's recent claim over Luke Garbutt – captain of England's Under-17s – yielded an initial payment of £600,000 from Everton.

At the age of 14, Swan and Hutton are some way short of Garbutt's development.

Leeds may be unhappy about the youngsters leaving their youth system but it could not be said that the club have been robbed blind.
On the face of it, an academy which costs around £1m annually to run has paid for itself this year. Doubtless United can find a sliver of consolation in that.
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WHAT sort of welcome should Paul Lambert expect when he and his Norwich City players descend on Elland Road on Monday?

Lambert and Leeds United were denied the chance to cross swords in August after the Scot left Colchester United to take charge of Norwich, but his fingerprints were all over Colchester's Community Stadium when Leeds arrived in Essex.

United's staff found that an away dressing room which was satisfactory five months earlier had undergone a transformation – painted in a dull shade of grey and devoid of any power sockets.

An employee at Colchester said: "Paul felt the dressing room was just a bit too comfortable for the opposition."

United's travelling party were far from impressed with the facilities, though a 2-1 victory left the majority philosophical.

"We might just forget to turn the heating on," joked one member of staff when asked how the club might reciprocate. The predicted temperature for Monday night? Three degrees celsius.
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MARTIN JARRED, co-author of the popular Who's Who of Leeds United, has produced another book chronicling the international achievements of the club's former players.

Leeds United: For Club and Country is a painstaking overview of the caps won by 112 current and former professionals, who between them have represented 23 countries.

They range from Willis Edwards, the first United player to be selected by England, to current Angolan international Rui Marques.
The book is not current enough to include Patrick Kisnorbo, the Australian defender signed on a free from Leicester City in July, but he is the only obvious omission.

It is not only the statistics that make for interesting reading. The stories behind certain international careers are also compelling.

In amongst the book's photographs is a grainy image of Leeds full-back Bert Sproston and his England team-mates giving a Nazi salute before a game against Germany in Berlin in 1938.

The YEP are selling Jarred's latest offering (published by Breedon Books) for £17.99, plus £2.95 postage and packing.

To order, call 01748 821122 or send a cheque/postal order to Yorkshire Books Ltd, 1 Castle Hill, Richmond, DL10 4QP. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to Yorkshire Books Ltd.

Copies are also available to buy from reception at the YEP building in Wellington Street, Leeds.