Leeds need to sign a replacement for Lewis Baker in January

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Lewis Baker has gone through the exit doors of Elland Road and Leeds United need to respond in January.

The 23-year-old was on loan with the Whites from Chelsea, but has seen that deal ripped up with the Championship club.

According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea have recalled the central midfielder and are set to let him depart to join Reading.

Leeds have confirmed on their official Twitter account that Baker’s exit is official after plenty of speculation.

Baker has had a horrid spell with Leeds, where he’s been on the fringes and made just 13 first-team appearances this season.

The English midfielder has mainly been deployed as a substitute and only completed 90 minutes in Carabao Cup fixtures.

Baker has never found his feet in a Leeds shirt and the team shouldn’t suffer too much from his exit, but the squad definitely will.

Bielsa is already working with a tight squad as it is that continues to be hit by injuries and the centre of the park is looking like an area with increasingly less options.

Leeds could be left with Kalvin Phillips, Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw as the main senior options for the midfield role.

The Whites do have plenty of young talents they can call up to the first team, but the current Championship leaders could do with another senior body to sustain a promotion bid.

Bielsa has admitted he only wants to sign players that are better than the current options, but not finding a squad player to replace Baker could come back to bite him if further injuries strike.