Leeds United’s Pierre-Michel Lasogga should go see the birth of his child and skip the Burton match

We get it.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga really wants to be at Leeds United. He’s said he can’t wait to start scoring goals and helping the team get back to the Premier League. Everything went sideways at Hamburger SV for Lasogga, and now he wants to show just how much this second chance at being a first choice footballer means to him, and so he’s doing and saying all the “right” things, about wanting to be at Leeds, even if his family and his pregnant girlfriend is back in Germany. But Thomas Christiansen needs to send the man home to be with his family, as his girlfriend is due Sunday.

Maybe it’s because I’m a parent and being there for the birth of my twin daughters almost five years ago was one of the most important moments of my life, but I cannot fathom not being there for the birth of my child. And while I understand that people miss these important events all the time for various reasons, this one still bothers me.

There are 41 matches left in the Championship season, and after Saturday, there will be 40. The season will not be won or lost on Saturday, the league is a marathon, not a sprint. And while Lasogga might want to hit the ground running and open his account against Burton, he needs to reminded of the importance of family. Christiansen, to his credit, has said that he’s not going to keep Lasogga at the club, but he should send the player back to Germany.

Sports are one of the few walks of life that we celebrate players being crappy family members. In what other walk of life would someone potentially missing the birth of a child for work be seen as a good thing? If he was Pierre-Michel Lasogga, accountant, and he worked on a big account over the weekend while his child was born, we’d all be horrified. Same if Lasogga was a beer vendor or a hot dog salesman. In fact, most bosses wouldn’t dream of asking their employees to work if their partner was getting ready to have a baby.

Now, if he flies to be with his girlfriend right after the match and is in constant contact with the hospital and his girlfriend, and leaves if she goes into labour, then I’ll come off my high horse and accept him being at the match. But if he ends up missing the birth of his child while Leeds are playing Burton, I’ll be pretty angry at him and at the club. It seems silly that we treat players as supermen, devoid of human emotions. And while members of the military or public safety officers often miss big events, we’re talking about a football match here. Against Burton.

But since it’s sports, it’s celebrated that a player gives up his family life for the club, although the club would drop the player in a heart-beat if the player started playing poorly and was no longer contributing to the club. Players who put family first are criticized in the media and by the public, and it’s wrong.

Here’s hoping that the baby co-operates and comes Wednesday after the Birmingham City match or on Sunday after Lasogga’s back in Germany and everything works out for the best. Because seriously, missing childbirth because of work? His girlfriend will have to be restrained from hurting him if he’s gone.