Two similar but different Leeds United transfer situations unlikely to change course due to FA Cup
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
At 21 and 22 respectively, this is an important time in their footballing lives, when match minutes can make the difference between establishing a career and watching early promise slip away. It's a time to be playing, not watching, and the third round of the FA Cup should be a fixture that has Leeds United youngsters licking their lips in anticipation.
McCalmont has played in it, but not for Leeds. As a loanee at Oldham and Morecambe he took on Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur respectively in third round ties, his loan spells yielding a grand total of six FA Cup appearances.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLast season Drameh played in it, albeit for 21 minutes only, in one of five senior outings for the Whites before he requested and was granted a loan move to Cardiff City. That's where Leeds will go on Sunday as Jesse Marsch gets his first taste of a competition that has mostly sickened his club for years. Just as Pavlog's dogs salivated in expectation at being fed upon hearing his assistant's footsteps, Leeds fans wince in expectation of a punch in the face upon hearing the FA Cup draw.
The 2022/23 edition is no more appealing than last season's trip to West Ham United, or the calamitous visit to Crawley that came before it, and yet both Drameh and McCalmont would have been drooling at the idea of a first team run out in south east Wales, previously. This season they're both in strange boats, bobbing along within the Leeds United flotilla but almost certain to plot a different course when the tide changes.
McCalmont would have steered clear of his boyhood club in the summer and indeed was expected to, yet no ideal destination could be found. So he's found himself doing a job for the Under 21s, sometimes at left-back, awaiting rescue in the January transfer window. That doesn't mean he's been treading water, though.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"Alfie has trained really well and played really well in the last six weeks and made the biggest impression on me in his time here so far, so that part's been great," said Marsch on Friday.
"What exactly the decisions are for loans with different players, aren't all clear quite yet. Alfie's been training more often with the first group and doing really well in training and then the test matches, so I expect him to have another good match [at Forest with the 21s] and then I think we'll continue to think about exactly what the path is for for him and players in that same category, trying to figure out do we want to send them to get more real matches? Or do we feel like keeping them internal and working on their process here is better?"
It was a rhetorical question, but in McCalmont's case it does have an answer. St Mirren have shown interest, along with a number of EFL clubs. McCalmont wants to be a football player, not a football trainer who joins in with the Under 21s, not when he has dipped his toes in the water of men's football and found it warm - at Oldham at least. There is no realistic future for the once-capped Northern Ireland international at Elland Road and even if he found himself in the FA Cup squad, it would only be due to significant injury strife and not a portent of senior involvement to come. At one time the possibility of him stepping into Kalvin Phillips’ shoes was given serious thought by Marcelo Bielsa but that ship ultimately sailed.
Drameh's reality is a little different, insofar as he has been a part of Marsch's first team squad this season, played once in the Premier League and impressed in the Spanish training camp. Unlike McCalmont, it's possible to picture the 21-year-old in Leeds first team action at some point in the future and yet that is where the problem lies, because the path from here to there, from the present to that future is obscured by Luke Ayling and Rasmus Kristensen.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdFor all Marsch's talk of how much he likes Drameh, a pair of experienced right-backs stand in his way and the head coach evidently likes them more right now. The American, though, understands that speaking highly of the youngster is not quite enough.
"Cody will play some minutes tonight in Nottingham [for the 21s] and then we'll address what we need from him [on Sunday]," said Marsch.
"He'll be in the squad for sure and then we'll see exactly how we decide to use them. I know it's sort of contradictory what I've been saying, I'm really happy with Cody, but then haven't included him in the squad, but I'm really happy with Cody, really happy and we've got to figure out exactly how to challenge him moving forward as well."
Drameh, even more than McCalmont perhaps, would dearly love to play on Sunday. It was at Cardiff that he made his first real splash as a senior player, more than keeping his head above water in the Championship. That spell ensured that there would be transfer interest in the summer and this month. And given Marsch's admission that what will keep Drameh at Elland Road is game time, it's surely now the case that not even a full run out in the FA Cup will convince him to change tack and stay put. Many a port will be willing to welcome him back to the Championship.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIn one of these players' situations, a departure would simply be the natural flow that occurs across the game, talented players who were swimming against the tide at a Premier League club going downstream to find their happiest hunting ground. A fine career in the EFL is well within McCalmont's ability and there could well be more caps for Northern Ireland, where he remains highly thought of.
Drameh, however, has more than a hint of 'one that got away' potential about him.