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Former Leeds United youngster Max Dean only returned from a serious knee injury last month but could be sidelined again.
Former Leeds United forward Max Dean could be set for another lengthy absence just weeks after returning from a long-term injury - although it’s not fitness-related this time.
Dean missed almost 10 months of action for Belgian side KAA Gent after suffering serious knee ligament damage on Boxing Day last year. The young forward had only joined his new club the previous summer and had seven goals in 23 appearances before undergoing surgery and missing the remainder of the season.
The 21-year-old returned to first-team action on October 25 but in just his second game back, was shown a straight red card during Gent’s 4-0 defeat at OH Leuven on Sunday. Dean missed a penalty late on with his side already four goals down and after chasing back to stop a counter-attack, he scythed down Mathieu Maertens from behind.
Dean was shown a straight red card and after being confronted by some of Maertens’ teammates, had to be pulled away from a fiery clash and sent down the tunnel before things escalated further. Belgian outlet HLN now reports the former Leeds youngster is facing a ‘serious suspension’.
The outlet reports a ban of at least six matches has been demanded by the federal prosecutor's office, with Dean ‘in danger of being sidelined for a while’ only weeks after returning from injury. Gent are still able to appeal any decision but a hefty suspension looks likely, given the nature of the challenge and melee that followed.
Max Dean’s headline-grabbing life in Belgium continues
Any suspension will see Dean’s rollercoaster start to life in Belgium continue, with the 21-year-old never too far away from the headlines. He joined Gent from MK Dons in the summer of 2024 in a deal reportedly worth over £2million, a portion of which Leeds will have received due to a sell-on clause in his move to the Dons in 2023.
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Dean scored three goals in his first three appearances for Gent and went on to register 10 goals and three assists in less than five months before suffering a serious knee injury while playing against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise on Boxing Day. That unfortunate injury curtailed his incredible progress since leaving Leeds as a teenager in 2023, having failed to break into the first-team picture.
"I think it was the right time for me to go,” Dean exclusively told the YEP of his decision in November last year. “I wanted to go myself, to play first-team football. I had to get out and obviously with six months left on my deal, it had to be a permanent move.
"I loved my time at Leeds. Without Leeds, I know I wouldn't have made it as a professional footballer, so I love the club today, I love the club to bits but I had to go and play football. I didn't want to be 20, 21 still knocking round in the 23s team. I knew I had to get out and play."
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