Marcus Antonsson might not be in for a return to Elland Road

After a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers, Swedish striker Marcus Antonsson faces an uncertain future.

The Leeds United striker was deemed surplus to requirements by previous head coach Thomas Christiansen and sent out on loan to Blackburn at the beginning of last season. Now it seems that Antonsson may struggle to find another deal to keep him in England, with reports saying that clubs in Sweden are interested in bringing the striker back home.

Malmo FF and Hammarby are both giants of Swedish football, and the lure of returning home might be able to get Antonsson to go back to the Allsvenskan. A starting spot at Leeds doesn’t look likely, as the club has been pursing different options in the past two transfer windows and while Antonsson had a decent season on loan in League One, he only made six league appearances for Leeds.

Blackburn Rovers are also said to have declined to make the loan deal into a permanent move, meaning that unless another English club is interested in a transfer for his services, Antonsson will likely have to either go back out on loan or will have to take a pay cut on his reported £16,000 a week salary to make a move back to Sweden work, as the wage structure at even the top teams in the Allsvenskan is much different than the wage structure in England.

Complicating matters at Leeds, of course, is that there is some question marks surrounding the status of head coach Paul Heckingbottom and it might be until June or later than any moves get completed for the striker.

Of course this could all be a negotiating technique by Blackburn in order to get a better deal out of Leeds, or his agent could be ginning up interest to try and land his player a better deal. Either way, good luck Marcus, and congrats on the promotion with Blackburn Rovers.