Jamal Blackman would have started Leeds United’s Championship clash against Bristol City this weekend if he had not broken his leg, Marcelo Bielsa has revealed.
The United manager explained at his media conference on Thursday lunchtime, as quoted by the personal Twitter account of Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Phil Hay, that he had planned to axe Bailey Peacock-Farrell and hand the on-loan goalkeeper the first league start of his season-long loan.
But Blackman fractured his tibia during an Under-23s clash last week and returned to parent club Chelsea.
Bielsa said he is “very sad” at the shattering blow to the player, who’s a “great person” and “great goalkeeper”.
Bielsa confirms that Jamal Blackman was going to start against Bristol City, ahead of Bailey Peacock-Farrell before his broken leg. "I'm very sad for him because of what happened. He's a great person, he's a great goalkeeper, he did a huge effort to do what we wanted him to do."
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) November 22, 2018
OPINION
Bielsa’s revelation about Blackman’s intended promotion shows he had lost patience with established number one Peacock-Farrell, who has started all 17 of the club’s Championship matches this season. The Northern Ireland international has looked jittery of late, especially with long-range shots and high balls, and was clearly at fault for the second of West Brom’s goals in their 4-1 demolition of United at the Hawthorns before the international break. That Bielsa has decided to go public with the fact he has lost some faith in Peacock-Farrell is telling, although it will provide some comfort to Blackman as he sets out on the long road to recovery. Peacock-Farrell has done as well as anyone could have hoped since being fast-tracked into the starting XI by Paul Heckingbottom in the final months of last season, but he will probably benefit from a spell out of the side and a chance to address some of his technical weaknesses.