Gradel open to staying on

Whites' loan ace happy to extend stay

By James Pearson   Last updated: 4th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Gradel open to staying on

Gradel: Enjoying Leeds life

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Leeds United's on-loan ace Max Gradel has revealed he would be open to extending his one-month stay.

Simon Grayson swooped for the Leicester City starlet last month after back-up winger Andy Robinson damaged his hamstring.

However, Gradel has impressed off the bench in his four appearances and even scored in last Saturday's 4-0 win over Yeovil.

Grayson recently hinted he is hoping to extend Gradel's loan, something the 21-year-old is happy doing providing he keeps on playing.

When asked if he would be open to extending his stay, he told skysports.com: "Yeah, as long as I'm going to be involved and playing some games.

"That's what I'm looking for, first-team football. As long as I'm going to play I think it would be a good idea.

"I'm enjoying [being at Leeds]. I'm playing first team football now so I'm happy. It's going very well."

Frustrating

Gradel extended his Foxes stay until 2012 last year and admits he has found life frustrating at The Walkers Stadium after failing to secure regular football.

The Ivory Coast starlet was loaned to Bournemouth in the 07/08 campaign and made 27 League One appearances for City in last season's promotion campaign.

"At the moment it's difficult at Leicester because I'm not playing a lot. Any player that isn't playing is never very happy," he continued.

"I extended my Leicester contract last year, but at the moment I'm struggling to play and would do anything for first-team football."

Gradel has been building up match fitness at Leeds and hopes to be in a position to start a match for Grayson in two weeks' time.

"I'm just happy being involved. I'm not complaining about anything. I'm getting match fit now because I hadn't played for a long time.

"Right now I'm playing for 10, 15 and 30 minutes and hopefully in two weeks' time I'll be match fit and be able to complete a game."