Jamal Blackman leg break gives Leeds United perfect chance to finally sign David Stockdale

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Leeds United’s seemingly endless bad luck when it comes to injuries continued this weekend. Jamal Blackman, the club’s second-choice keeper, suffered a broken leg in an under-23 fixture.

The injury has ruled him out for the season and Leeds have therefore cancelled his contract. Blackman returns to Chelsea having never made a Championship appearance for the Whites.

It leaves Leeds resting their keeping laurels on two youngsters in Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Will Huffer. Surely, come January, or even before if an emergency loan needs to be ratified, Leeds must bring in another option.

One that immediately springs to mind is a player they wanted in the summer.

David Stockdale was heavily linked with a move to his hometown club. Former Leeds boss Garry Monk had frozen out the stopper at St Andrew’s and Leeds immediately became a potential destination for the 33-year-old.

In the end, it never happened. As confirmed by the Yorkshire Evening Post this week, Birmingham would not subsidise enough of his wages for Leeds to believe it worthwhile.

Since then, the experienced keeper has spent a short emergency spell with Southend United and the rest of his time in the wilderness at Birmingham.

Leeds would surely now be keen to bring him in again. Stockdale has many years of Championship experience. In fact, he helped Brighton to promotion in 2016-17. He could help the youngsters improve their game and provide expert cover for Bielsa’s project in Peacock-Farrell.

Revisiting their summer interest in Stockdale seems the obvious solution for Leeds.