Morning Leeds-in 5 July: Pawel Cibicki sounds off about Heckingbottom

Remember Pawel Cibicki? If you do, you might not be Paul Heckingbottom.

Leeds brought in a number of players in last year’s summer transfer window, and a number of them didn’t work out. One of them seemed to be Pawel Cibicki. The 24 year-old came to Leeds from Malmö FF in Sweden, billed as one of the striker-by-committee that was supposed to replace Chris Wood.

Cibicki never really got any playing time in the autumn, seemed to be placed on League Cup duty, and was never really impressive. However, he did get a chance in the match at Queens Park Rangers in December, and he was a breath of fresh air. And because Thomas Christiansen didn’t believe in rotation, he was soon ground down, playing in a number of matches in quick succession. He came off injured in January and never took the pitch for the first team again.

He played one match with the U23s, tore up the competition, but only made the bench after that. He looked like he was bound for the exit as soon as the season was over, even being spotted with his agent at a Legia Warsaw match.

However, now that his six-month loan move to Molde is official, he’s spoken out about being “frozen out” under Heckingbottom. And it was odd that he never made the pitch, even with a number of injures and questionable roster moves that Heckingbottom made. After all, Cibicki is still a young player, and his brief appearances were far more impressive than a few others that found their way into the starting XI or at least made multiple appearances from the bench.

It’s not a good sign for a loan player to pop off in the press about being mistreated by a manager, but Heckingbottom’s gone and even if Cibicki wants to come back, he might not get the chance. Here’s hoping he plays well at Molde.

On to the links.

Leeds United Links

You can meet Lewis Baker, as well as Samu Saiz, Pablo Hernandez, and Ronaldo Vieira, at the opening of the Trinity Leeds club shop today. [Through It All Together]

Leeds sign 18 year-old Leif Davis from Morecambe. [Leeds United.com]

England and English Football Links

Fabian Delph is headed back to the World Cup for England after the birth of his daughter. [BBC.com]

West Ham United are reportedly interested in signing former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere. [Sky Sports]

World Football Links

Barcelona have denied that they bought a liver on the black market for Eric Abidal. [Barca Blaugranes]

Matias Almeyda has reportedly put a deal on hold to go to Qatar with the possibility becoming the next Mexico manager. [FMF State of Mind]

Speaking of Mexico managers, reports out of Colombia indicate that current Mexico manager Juan Carlos Orsorio, who managed both the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire in MLS, is in talks to take over as the manager of the United States National Team. [FMF State of Mind]

A look at what new signings Pepe Reina and Ivan Strinic can bring to AC Milan. [AC Milan Offside]

Houston Dynamo scored twice in stoppage time to draw with Los Angeles Football Club at home. [Dynamo Theory]