Helder Costa is set to get his first start in the Championship, possibly as early as the game against Barnsley on Sunday, according to Football Insider.
The report claims that the reason Costa hasn’t been starting to date is that Marcelo Bielsa wasn’t convinced about his fitness or conditioning at the start of the season.
However, after losing 1-0 to Swansea last time out – Leeds’ first defeat of the season – Bielsa sees the pace and guile of Costa as being key to breaking defences down.
Costa signed from Wolves in July but missed out on the pre-season tour to Australia.
TiF Tactics – Time for Costa
Bielsa will be looking for Costa to rediscover his form from the 16/17 season when he was a monster for Wolves.
He scored 10 goals and added eight assists that season and his numbers from stats site WyScout show what he’s capable of.
He attempted close to seven dribbles and had over two shots per 90 minutes, and boasted an xG of 0.26. He suffered from injury the next season but his numbers stacked up, with close to eight dribbles per 90 minutes and an xG of 0.27.
Costa’s already shown what he can do for Leeds, hooking up twice to provide tap-in goals for fellow summer signing Eddie Nketiah – one in the Championship that secured the three points against Brentford.
When Costa does get a start it’s likely to be Jack Harrison who will drop to the bench.
The Man City loanee had a fast start to the season but has faded away and hasn’t produced any attacking returns since the 3-1 win against Bristol City in the opening game of the season.