Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan believes forward Izzy Brown will not play for the club again.

The 22-year-old joined the Whites on a season-long loan from Chelsea last summer, but has failed to make an impact at Elland Road.

The forward missed the first half of the season with a knee injury, but returned to fitness in January and has been available to play for months.

Despite this, Brown has only played nine minutes of first-team football for Leeds this season, coming off the bench in the 1-0 defeat at QPR in February and has appeared as an unused substitute seven times.

He has featured regularly for Leeds' under-23 side though, but former Whites' striker Whelan is convinced that he has played his last game for the first-team and believes head coach Marcelo Bielsa favours the likes of Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton ahead of him.

“Izzy Brown won’t play for Leeds again. Marcelo Bielsa believes he has better players in the academy and coming out of the youth team. If they have been performing in training, rightly so," Whelan told Football Insider.

“I just can’t see Brown featuring for Leeds again. Even when he gets on the bench, he is not used and Bielsa has preferred to bring on Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton.

“He would rather have their energy, and that’s why you have an academy. We are not blessed with millions of pounds and have to rely on the academy set-up.

“They are keeping out a professional player who has come through the ranks at Chelsea and played many times for Huddersfield and Rotherham on loan.

"He is proven at this level, but Bielsa clearly prefers what he sees from Clarke and Shackleton.”

The Verdict:

I think Whelan is right. It's fair to say that things haven't worked out for Brown at Leeds and his move to Elland Road has been a major disappointment.

Bielsa clearly does not see him as good enough to play for the first-team and has been more impressed by the likes of Clarke and Shackleton.

I would be very surprised to see him play for the club again and this could be damaging for his future at Chelsea.