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Leeds United loanee Lewis Baker was handed a first league start in midfield for the Championship clash against Reading at Elland Road on Tuesday night, but it didn’t end well for the Chelsea man.

The 23-year-old has often found himself on the substitutes’ bench with the likes of Adam Forshaw, Mateusz Klich and Samu Saiz preferred ahead of him, but the absence of Pontus Jansson again against the Royals saw Kalvin Phillips drop into the backline and Forshaw switch to a more defensive midfield role.

Baker then lined up alongside Klich for his first start of the campaign, and he had a big opportunity to impress.

On the Chalkboard

The midfielder looked to have the ideal chance to express himself at home against a side struggling towards the bottom of the division, but he completely failed to take it.

While the lack of game time may have caught up on him, the 23-year-old should have been ready to grasp his opportunity, but it just didn’t happen for whatever reason before he was hauled off by Marcelo Bielsa at half-time.

Samu Saiz – who probably would have counted himself unlucky not to get the call-up originally – then came on and made the impact that the person he replaced had failed to.

The Playmaker FC squad decided to wind-up some unsuspecting Brazil fans at the Emirates on Saturday night. Watch the hilarious results in the video below…

What now for Baker?

While Chelsea loanee still has a hope of being involved in the coming weeks with the busy festive period to come, in reality surely his Leeds career under Bielsa is over.

The Argentine boss will likely explore other options rather than give the 23-year-old the nod in his starting XI, which is something he has already clearly been unwilling to do in the past.

This was Baker’s chance to prove that not only could he tear up the Championship like other Premier League loanees in Harry Wilson and Harvey Barnes have done, but instead both his current and parent club are likely to be highly unimpressed.