Leeds United: Player Marcelo Bielsa spent 19 hours watching is at surprise new club - View | OneFootball

FLW look at the career of Alfie McCalmont since leaving Leeds United.

Alfie McCalmont's career since leaving Leeds United has perhaps not gone the way many envisaged, especially after the early comments made about him from Marcelo Bielsa.

The midfielder had been highly-rated by the Whites but he understandably struggled to get near the first-team of the Premier League side outside of training sessions under the enigmatic Argentine.

Bielsa was known to be a big admirer of the Northern Irish youngster, which was evident in the fact that, back in 2020, he was awarded with a long-term contract at Elland Road until the summer of 2024.

At that time you wouldn't have ruled out McCalmont getting a chance, but there was also the issue of there being a number of senior players ahead of him in the pecking order at Elland Road, along with emerging talent such as Lewis Bate on their books at that stage.

The Northern Irish midfielder would only go on to make two appearances in the first-team ranks in West Yorkshire, having excited those who had watched him light up U-21 pitches for Leeds.

Bielsa was notoriously reluctant to loan out many of Leeds' brightest academy graduates and McCalmont had to bide his time, eventually joining Oldham Athletic in League Two during the 2021/22 season.

Alfie McCalmont's career in the EFL

The competitive football the Northern Irishman has had over the years has predominantly come out on loan away from Leeds, with that very successful stint at Oldham United followed by a spell with Morecambe in League One. The Northern Ireland international had less success in the third tier, and spent the first half of the 2022/23 season back at Elland Road and languishing in the reserves and youth team.

He then found himself on loan at Carlisle United in League Two in January, joining former Leeds academy graduate Ryan Edmondson on their way to play-off glory under Paul Simpson. They secured their place in League One and McCalmont was then sold by Leeds to Carlisle for an undisclosed fee that summer.

Unfortunately, Carlisle finished bottom of League One, with McCalmont struggling in the third tier. He wasn't the only one in the squad who showed themselves to not be ready for the third tier, but the 24-year-old found himself at a crossroads this summer after struggling to revitalise his career at the very bottom of League One.

For large parts of the season, he had been a regular for the Cumbrians. However, he was suspected of being part of a small group of players who went out less than 48 hours before their Easter Monday game against Lincoln City, which placed his future in doubt.

These players were not named but were subsequently punished. McCalmont, alongside Jordan Gibson, were notably left out of the matchday squads for three consecutive games following an internal investigation by the club after the Lincoln clash.

Heading into the summer, Simpson outlined that some players, who weren't been publicly named, were then told that they can try to find new opportunities for themselves. It appeared as though McCalmont was among them, and it was clear at that stage that it would be a good idea for them to get him off the books and for him to start fresh somewhere else.

Alfie McCalmont's surprise move to Australia

The EFL is a fantastic place for players to cut their teeth elsewhere and develop, even if McCalmont had once hoped to flourish at his boyhood club. However, the issues at the back end of last season saw him move on in the summer.

McCalmont, who was once talked up as being "immensely talented" by former Leeds player and ex-BBC Radio Leeds commentator Noel Whelan, had a fair amount of anonymous displays centrally and was a player with a tough decision to make in the summer.

In July of this year, McCalmont joined A-League club Central Coast Mariners, managed by former Leeds Academy coaches Mark Jackson and Danny Schofield, linking up with former Carlisle and Leeds teammate Edmondson.

It's not where many had expected him to rock up as a then-developing 23-year-old. Especially after the reveal in his youth career that he had been studied extensively by Bielsa, who spent 20 hours watching clips involving the player to assess his potential.

That's according to The Athletic's Phil Hay, who reported that Bielsa had earmarked him as a potentially similar player to Kalvin Phillips, with the England international bossing Leeds' midfield under the South American.

McCalmont played as a deep-lying central midfielder in the Leeds youth team. He plays mainly as a playmaking defensive midfielder, known for his passing and ability on the ball. He can dictate the play but has also operated as a box-to-box player in much of his young career as well.

Having emerged from Leeds’ academy as a deep-lying midfielder, that’s where he’s most likely to feature in his career and, with the right environment and nurturing, he could have become more than a player who is likely to spend the peak years of his career in Australia.

McCalmont’s stint at Oldham saw him as the first line of defence if the ball was cleared from corners, sweeping up near the edge of the box, and it saw him score a handful from that position as well. At that stage, it appeared as though he would go on and become a player who would move back up the EFL, and not one struggling to make a name for himself in the lower leagues of English football.