Samuel Saiz plays for a long-term future away from Leeds United as loan at Getafe proves a slow burn

At Elland Road, the decision to relinquish a player who declared himself unsettled and asked to go home was rapid and brave, made two weeks in advance of the January transfer window opening. Saiz is a gifted number 10 – “the only player who can provide the balance our team needs,” Marcelo Bielsa said – but his attitude was a concern and even some of United’s players could see that his mind had strayed elsewhere. Adam Forshaw suggested as much, saying: “It’s not about individuals, I’ll be honest. He’s a good player but we’re a team.”

The negotiation of a loan with Getafe, the La Liga club who lie a stone’s throw from central Madrid, told a story about Leeds’ desire to move Saiz on quickly and get him away from Thorp Arch; no demand for a fee for a relatively high-value asset who had two-and-a-half years left on his contract. Getafe negotiated an option to buy him this summer, for a fee of close to £6m, but Saiz’s time with them has been a slow burn and journalists in Spain are already questioning whether the 28-year-old’s move will become permanent.

Saiz left a high-performing squad at Leeds to join another at Getafe, the least fashionable of Madrid’s professional clubs but a side who are vying for a first appearance in the Champions League next season. Getafe hold La Liga’s fourth qualification spot and have completed 26 games at the cost of only six defeats. One Spanish journalist said Saiz’s meagre involvement was purely down to “sports reasons”. “The team are very good,” he said. “They’re fighting for the Champions League.”

Saiz has been with La Liga clubs before – Getafe, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, where he started his career – but cut his teeth in the Segunda Division before Leeds signed him from Huesca in 2017. Jose Bordalas, Getafe’s coach, said in the early stages of Saiz’s loan that he would take time to find his feet.

“He still has room and things to improve, like everyone,” Bordalas said. “He has to adapt because he had not played in the first division before but we are confident he can improve.”

In two months, Saiz has made two starts in La Liga and played for 228 minutes. His debut came in the Copa Del Rey in January, against Rayo Vallecano, but Bordalas has left him out of the last three games. The Getafe coach prefers a 4-4-2 formation, with attacking midfielder Francisco Portillo wide on the left and a front pairing of Jaime Mata and Jorge Molina, a veteran at the age of 36. His strikers have shared 21 goals between them and Getafe are on a run of two defeats in 14; those defeats suffered against Barcelona and Atletico.

Saiz is looking for opportunities to cast influence on Getafe’s season but circumstances have obstructed him. He was stripped and ready to come on as a substitute against Rayo Vallecano a week-and-a-half ago when Mata laid on a 68th-minute goal for Molina and Getafe took a 2-1 lead. The shift in impetus changed Bordalas’ mind and Saiz sat back down.

“He took off his jumper because he was going to enter the field but the game changed at that moment,” Bordalas said.

“Like everyone else, he wants to play and if players don’t participate they can get p****d off but I never see bad intentions (in Siaz). It happened to me when I was a player and it p***** me off.”

There is no suggestion at this point of Getafe seeking to end his loan and his contract in Spain does not include a recall clause. Leeds and Bielsa, in any case, were left in no doubt that Saiz was mentally finished at Elland Road and Bielsa moved on swiftly without him. There have been times since Christmas when a player in Saiz’s mould, with his imagination and energy, would have made a difference but his race in England is run. His contract in England runs to 2021, though, and Getafe’s right to buy is not an obligation. In sealing this transfer, Saiz has work to do.