Adrian Durham heaped praise on the transformation of Leeds centre-back Pontus Jansson this season as he now saw the 28-year-old as a quality defender.
The broadcaster shared that he previously doubted the Whites enforcer as he thought the 28-year-old was just a badge-kissing crowd pleaser who got away with a lot.
Durham added that he didn’t know whether manger Marcelo Bielsa was behind the player’s improvement or it was just down to the defender himself, but pointed out that he thought Jansson now looked the part.
“I thought he was just a badge-kissing crowd pleaser that gets away with a lot but this season whether it’s Bielsa or an improvement in his game, wow he looks the part,” said Durham on talkSPORT (Wednesday March 13th, 17:44).
“He absolutely looks the part, he got back in the team and taken his chance, a real leader, a quality defender.”
OPINION
The most surprising part of Durham’s verdict is that he previously doubted Jansson, as he did impress a lot of people before this season. However there is no denying that the 28-year-old is playing his best football for Leeds currently and hopefully that continues. Jansson is a certified rock at the heart of the Whites’ defence and he’s even managed to chip in with three goals in his 31 outings this season. While Durham debates whether it’s the player naturally improving or Bielsa’s influence that has inspired this transformation, it’s irrelevant. As long as Jansson is delivering the goods and is getting better and better for the Whites, supporters won’t worry about what has caused him to improve. If the 28-year-old’s form suddenly took a dip, that situation might change. Jansson will prove key to Leeds in the coming weeks as you feel he will need to be in top-form to help the club rack up the points needed to earn automatic promotion.