Leeds United's Welsh defender confirmed to return to parent club after Elland Road loan spell — YEP 21/5/24
By Joe Donnohue
Leeds United's on-loan full-back Connor Roberts will return
to Burnley this summer, the Lancashire club has announced.
Roberts joined the Whites on deadline day back in January
but has not featured as much as he would possibly have liked. The experienced
international defender has found himself in and out of the side due to injury
and the good form of positional rivals Archie Gray and Sam Byram throughout the
second half of the season.
Following the conclusion of the 2023/24 Premier League,
Burnley announced their retained list which confirms Roberts is due to return
to Turf Moor once Leeds' play-off campaign comes to a close this weekend.
The 28-year-old is still expected to be named in Daniel
Farke's matchday squad at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, while promotion to the top
flight could facilitate further negotiations over the player's future. Likely
due to the uncertainty surrounding which division Leeds will play in next
season, and the different budgetary constraints between Premier League
membership and a second consecutive year in the Championship, it has been
decided at this time Roberts will return to his parent club.
“Connor Roberts, CJ Egan Riley, Anass Zaroury, Samuel
Bastien, Darko Churlinov, Michael Obafemi, Owen Dodgson, Luke McNally, Scott
Twine, Wout Weghorst, Michael Mellon and Dara Costelloe all return to the club
after loan spells away,” a Burnley club statement read.
Roberts has integrated well into the United dressing room
since his January arrival and a future move is not off the cards, at least not
from the player's perspective. Upon joining just shy of four months ago, the
Wales international said: "Football's a funny game, so I'll be doing my
very best to make a good impression on and off the pitch and maybe in the
future it can change from the straight loan but yeah, at the moment it's just
come here try and help on and off the pitch."
The defender has made 14 appearances during his loan spell
so far, scoring once against Leicester City at Elland Road and registering one
assist.
