Leeds United in for a Lewis Cook loan? Sentiment alone should not sway us

When the news broke that Lewis Cook had signed for Bournemouth on the 8th of July, I was like most other Leeds United supporters: gutted to see one of the best midfielders I had seen in a generation leave the club. Now there’s a chance he might come back. Should we take him?

Who can forget that one?

In July, I took solace in the fact that we were set to acquire a fee of up to £10 million for the sale of Cook. £10 million can go a long way in the Football League and I hoped we would utilise the funds accordingly. To give credit to Garry Monk and his team, I believe we have brought in an array of decent Championship quality players to Elland Road with some of that money; O'Kane, Jansson, Bartley and Pablo Hernández to name a few.

And for his sake, when Lewis Cook made the move to Dean Court we all expected to see him flourish. But instead of flourishing, Cookie has vanished in more a spectacular fashion than David Copperfield in Las Vegas. In a lot of ways, I am more amazed and puzzled by Cook's sudden demotion within the Bournemouth squad than some of Copperfield's tricks.

I watched him when Bournemouth lost against Manchester United and, even though Bournemouth lost the game 3-1, I thought Cook showed glimpses of Premier League quality. He put on decent displays against Morecambe & Preston in the EFL Cup. However, since those games, he has completely disappeared from Eddie Howe's first 16. People may say the signing of Jack Wilshire puts Cook in a difficult position, but he wasn't playing before the arrival of Wilshire at Dean Court either.

We can all speculate and make assumptions about the reasons why Eddie Howe feels that Lewis Cook isn't currently ready to lead his midfield in the Premier League. Regardless, Cook has been out of the Bournemouth side for the last six games. Therefore, this week’s questions regarding the future of last year's 'Football League Young Player of the Year' are none too surprising.

So, this week rumours started to circulate about the possible return of Cook to Leeds. When I heard the rumour, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Every time a player makes the decision to leave the club for bigger and better things and it doesn’t work out, the usual return to Elland Road story appears.

Regardless of how much I rate Lewis Cook, we have moved on from him. We now have a solid spine throughout the team and if we chose to bring back Lewis Cook, this could potentially disturb the squad’s alignment and undo all the good things we have achieved over the last 6 weeks.

I am a big fan of a progressive philosophy within football clubs and if Leeds are going to make an impact this season we need to be looking forward and not backwards.

Agreed on that.

Lewis Cook is a quality midfielder and he has shown us on numerous occasions his ability. He would be an asset to any side.

It completely undermines the current midfield set-up we have. In my personal opinion, the consistent midfield has been the key to our recent upturn in form (along with Bartsson of course).

I don't believe sentiment alone is a justifiable reason for us to resign Cook. Let’s say no. MOT.