Marcelo Bielsa salutes 'gentleman' Eddie Nketiah with young Gunner leaving Leeds United following Arsenal recall

England under-21s striker Nketiah made his second Whites league start in the New Year's Day Championship clash at West Brom with Patrick Bamford only on the bench after a slight quad injury.

But Nketiah was taken off for Bamford at the break and the 20-year-old appeared to be waving goodbye to United's travelling fans after the conclusion of the 1-1 draw.

Arsenal have not been satisfied with the young Gunner's lack of game time and are recalling the striker with a view to sending the forward back out on loan.

Bielsa said Leeds would now analyse the situation in terms of landing a replacement striker and another winger with Jack Clarke recalled by Tottenham Hotspur but the Whites head coach also gave a glowing assessment of Nketiah as a player and a person.

"Arsenal and him informed us that he is not not to continue with us," said Bielsa.

"We are sorry for that but we know that what we offered to him was maybe not what the club expected.

"Eddie arrived at Leeds in the Championship.

"After some time when he was adapting to our style he was part of the XI starting.

"It wasn't something easy for him because he deserved to be there.

"After he had a health problem that was more than one month, two months, the first month when he was injured and one more month of adaptation and after this adaptation and after the time he played against Fulham he becomes again one of the starting XI players.

"We know that Patrick was injured in this match but anyway he was going to play this match and today he played again because he did well against Birmingham.

"We thought that he was a high value player but also it is important when you play and you have a substitute such as Bamford,

"This is also important in the development of one player. Against Birmingham he did a great physical effort.

"He's a specialist great player with a lot of resources and our play is a collective way of playing and one player needs to adapt to this style.

"For this reason when we felt he was part of the team we thought that we were going to feel the same and that he would continue with us.

"He didn't take this decision but he is a great player, an excellent professionals and he had very good behaviour, he is a gentleman in every sense.

"We are grateful with him and also to his family and his club.

"They develop Eddie with a very good education and for this reason it's a pity for us that he leaves us because we were happy."

Asked about replacing the former Gunners loanee, Bielsa said: "We are going to analyse the situation.

We are going to analyse options with him and Clarke.

"We need to analyse also the physical level of the player who is coming, if he is playing or not, and if this player fits to our style or we need to make some adaptations."