Manor Solomon's Leeds United loan spell finally looks to be up and running after a difficult start to life at Elland Road. Joining the Championship side on loan in August, the winger has found himself in and out of Daniel Farke's team after a combination of hamstring and back issues so soon after his switch restricted his game time.
The Israeli has started the team's last three games and more than played his part in helping the West Yorkshire club move to the summit of the league table. Making an instant impact at Leeds with an assist on his home debut against Hull City, Solomon went seven games without a goal contribution before really announcing himself to Leeds fans at Swansea City last Sunday in a 4-3 victory.
Scoring his team's first of the afternoon with a simple finish from close range following Dan James' pass, he would then double his tally and put the team 3-2 up in the 73rd minute with a clinical strike that went in off the underside of the crossbar. Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Solomon revealed that his brace meant a lot to him and stated "it feels like a beginning for me".
Solomon's performance was enough to see him remain in the team for Wednesday evening's fixture against Luton Town, a match Leeds went on to win 3-0. Farke's team are well stocked for wingers at the moment and their quality in the final third was highlighted by the fact that James dropped down to the bench despite his two assists at Swansea.
Speaking ahead of the fixture, Farke hailed Solomon's recent performances and mentioned that his wingers are unlikely to play the full match all the time as he tries to distribute the minutes.
"He had his first start after injury in the QPR game that we won at home. It was probably his best performance after the injury," he said, as reported by The Yorkshire Post. "Then he had two starts for his country against France and Belgium – proper opponents and really good performances. On Sunday just over 70 minutes and probably his best performance in the shirt, at least his most effective.
"The winger positions, it's quite important to have an eye on them in such a busy period because you have lots of high-speed running so it's not likely a winger will play all three games over 90 minutes. We have to share the minutes a little bit and to pay attention to what is necessary and which winger looks ready to go and recovered.
"It's good that we have quality and we have the choices. I'm quite pleased all of them are back. Largie [Ramazani] will need more time to be in the starting line-up but he's an option for a few minutes at least."
Despite Farke's pre-match comments, Solomon did go on to play the full 90 minutes of their latest win and he was awarded a mark of seven out of ten in Leeds Live's player ratings. "More of a creator than a finisher tonight. Served up a number of chances throughout the evening with his pace and trickery out wide. Roamed around a lot too," was the verdict of Leeds United correspondent Beren Cross.
Farke was asked in his post-match press conference if his winger had picked up a knock during the win but he ruled out a possible injury. “Manor is okay. Lots of load for him in the last few days. No injury. Felt like cramp,” he admitted.
Going on what the German said ahead of the game, Solomon could potentially drop down to the bench for Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers. James and Ramazani had to settle for a place amongst the substitutes on Wednesday evening and that could leave Solomon and Wilfried Gnonto at risk ahead of the trip to Ewood Park.
The last thing Farke and Leeds want to do with Solomon right now is push him too much after three successive starts. The Spurs man has endured terrible luck on the injury front over the past couple of seasons, notably only playing six times in his debut campaign at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium due to a knee problem.
At a time when Leeds are sitting top of the pile in the Championship and pushing for a Premier League return, having Solomon at the top of his game is only going to help the club over the coming months as they look to achieve their lofty ambitions. It is only a good thing for Tottenham as well as what comes next for Solomon in a Spurs shirt remains unclear.