Leeds United's efforts to help Jordan Stevens "predictably ended in disappointment" reveals Angus Kinnear

Stevens, who can return to training with the club from October 10, was handed a ban from all football-related activities and given a £1,200 fine after breaching the governing bodies betting rules.

The 19-year-old placed 59 bets which amounted to £510.12, including five Whites games - though the winger wasn't involved in any of those fixtures.

Leeds revealed the former Forest Green Rovers youngster had suffered from anxiety and homesickness since joining the club in January 2018.

United's head of medicine Rob Price also said that Stevens had "struggled to integrate himself" at the club, but the FA remained staunch with their punishment believing he had shown a "wilful disregard for the rules".

The Whites have been vocal in their concerns over the ban, which has resulted in Stevens being unable to train or interact with any of his teammates or United's coaching staff.

Kinnear, though, has now revealed that efforts from the club to help Stevens in a productive way have fallen on deaf ears.

"Our attempts to evolve Jordan Stevens' punishment, for a minor breach of betting regulations, into something more constructive have predictably ended in disappointment," said Kinnear in his West Brom programme notes.

"As we stated publicly, we strongly believed that a sanction of banning a young player from both the training ground and the stadium went against our collective duty of care for a young professional.

"We requested that Jordan be permitted to work for the Leeds United Foundation during his six-week suspension to provide him with some meaningful focus.

"After two weeks of deliberation, the FA's snappily titled Regulatory Legal Advocates Department concluded that he could work for the Foundation as long as this work was 'not in the football context' - and for clarity added that if he even helped out in a primary school PE lesson he would be in break of his suspension.

"The conundrum of how you can work for a football club's Foundation, yet not be 'in football context' has proved intellectually insurmountable and so we have conceded defeat."