Mateo Joseph left Leeds United to join Mallorca on loan under acrimonious circumstances in the summer transfer window. However, the club ensured that he would be back at Elland Road next year by insisting on not including an option to buy.
The young Spanish forward has admirers inside Elland Road, with chairman Paraag Marathe believed to be a fan of the forward. However, his situation at Leeds became untenable when he refused to join pre-season training in the summer and defied Daniel Farke.
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Eventually, a solution was found for him to spend this season at Mallorca, as he wanted to return to Spain, with the club now hopeful that something can be done to mend his relationship with the manager when he returns to Elland Road next year.
However, Joseph is yet to score in Spain, and he has now found himself in the middle of a dressing room chaos due to public disagreements between head coach Jagoba Arrasate and senior player Dani Rodriguez.
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Mateo Joseph supports Mallorca’s decision to suspend his teammate
A fuse was lit in the Mallorca dressing room after Dani Rodriguez publicly criticised Arrasate for not playing him against Real Madrid ahead of the international break.
His family were present at the Santiago Bernabeu, and the Mallorca coach’s decision to not even use him from the bench left the senior star furious.
Mallorca have suspended Rodriguez for his public outburst, and Joseph has supported the club’s decision to take disciplinary action against his teammate.
He conceded that it is not a pleasant situation, but stressed that ultimately Arrasate is responsible for the whole squad, and the squad need to stick with the decision made by him and the rest of the hierarchy.
“It’s not a pleasant situation at all. Why am I going to lie to you?”, he was quoted as saying by Estadio Deportivo.
“It’s true that the manager and the club have made a decision, and in the end, Jagoba Arrasate is the one who bears full responsibility for the group, and that decision must be respected.
“We are all one team, and we are all moving in that direction. We are aware that these situations can happen, even if they are unpleasant, but the club and the manager have already made a decision, and we must stick to it.”
Leeds would want him to focus on scoring goals
Leeds managing director Robbie Evans spoke about Joseph’s loan exit, and made it clear that the club expect him back in the team next season.
However, the Spaniard is yet to score a goal in Spain, and despite all his exploits for the Spain Under-21s, the forward’s tally in senior football is poor.
Leeds want Joseph to have a good season in Spain and return to the club next year as a better player, ready to contribute to the first team next season.
The dressing room fracas at Mallorca is not his fault, but the club would want him to focus more on getting things right on the pitch rather than thinking about how much better the Spanish city is than Leeds.
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