Left-back has been one of the major talking points of the summer at Leeds United. Junior Firpo came into pre-season as the only recognised, senior option in that part of the field and the Whites would choose to ignore that department in the transfer window.
Leif Davis was shipped out after failing to sufficiently impress in Australia, leaving Pascal Struijk and Leo Hjelde as the next best options behind Firpo. That lack of depth is reflected in the under-21 ranks too, where Liam McCarron was moved on and winger Keenan Carole has been parachuted in.
However, the 18-year-old was absent from the last Premier League 2 match through illness. That left head coach Michael Skubala with a choice to make and he landed on Alfie McCalmont.
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Going into that game on August 29, the 22-year-old was topping his fitness up ahead of a possible loan move before deadline day. The central midfielder has rarely, if ever, played at left-back, but Skubala, bereft of other under-21 choices, chose to trust McCalmont’s overall footballing ability.
Leeds would go on to hammer Nottingham Forest 5-1, with the makeshift left-back even popping up with a superb goal, but Skubala was more struck by what the switch said about the culture at United. He said: “He’s a really trusted player that's been out on loan, knows the game very well.
“I trust him with the ball and you saw him pop up with a goal. I just said to the group, having a player like Alfie come in and play left-back, when he's not played there very often and do a really good job, shows you the team mentality we're starting to grow as 21s, but as a club [too].
“If you're asked to do a job, do it as best you can and he’s even popped up with a goal.”
McCalmont spent the past two seasons with Oldham Athletic and Morecambe in League Two and League One respectively. A third consecutive loan deal which suited him did not emerge before the 11pm deadline on September 1.
The Northern Ireland international will now look to play as often as he can for United’s under-21s in advance of the January window. Skubala, speaking ahead of last week’s deadline, will be pleased to have such a mature head in his Premier League 2 ranks.
“Whatever happens with him, he's a great, great character and a good player,” he said. “He's a really good player.
“I always say, if you put players out of position and you still see they're a good player, you know they're a good player. It’s not even his favourite position.
“No doubt he could have played centre-mid and bossed the [Forest] game and done well, but he did what I call a mature job for us today in that left-back role.”
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