Journalist Adam Pope has insisted on the Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet podcast that Pascal Struijk is likely seen as the future for Leeds United at centre-back despite filling in at left-back this season.
Struijk has been tasked with filling the void left by Junior Firpo thus far and has appeared to do quite well having won the most tackles and managing to boast the highest WhoScored rating in the Leeds side.
Despite seemingly doing a good enough job at left-back, that simply isn’t Struijk’s natural position, and with Liam Cooper appearing to struggle with the pace of the Premier League last weekend after arguably being twice at fault against Crystal Palace, Struijk’s future is likely destined to be at the heart of defence.
Pope believes that Struijk will be the future left-sided centre-back for Leeds because of how well he’s performed at full-back this campaign.
He said: “On the centre-back issue, I think, having seen Struijk cope really well at left-back, I think he’s probably the most talented left-sided defender in terms of centre-backs, so he’s clearly the future.”
Should Struijk start at centre back for Leeds?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Struijk’s future…
Struijk, who has been hailed as ‘amazing‘, is still just 23 and only into his second season with Leeds as a regular, but the versatile defender has already managed to rack up 74 first-team appearances across multiple positions, which is probably why he’s held in such high regard at Leeds.
It will be comforting for the Leeds board and the fans to know that they have both Robin Koch and Struijk ready to form a solid centre-back partnership, and thus save the club millions of pounds in the transfer market.
And with plenty of youngsters on the books at the moment such as Joe Gelhardt, Wilfried Gnonto and Sonny Perkins, it is clear that Leeds’ policy of sourcing youthful talents looks to be paying off.
The Dutch defender has been a huge help for Jesse Marsch this season by playing pretty well at left-back in the absence of Junior Firpo, but many will have likely been concerned by how a 6ft 3in centre-back would do against some of the league’s trickiest wingers.
So perhaps Struijk will continue to come into his own as he deputises for Firpo and provide further depth as well as become a stalwart of the Leeds defence in the long term.