Former Leeds United Academy player Tom Claisse has been discussing Helder Costa on a recent edition of the Talking Shutt podcast.
The 26-year-old is currently on loan at Elland Road from Wolverhampton Wanderers but will join the club on a permanent deal this summer for a fee of £15m (via Leeds Live). He’s started in 75% of Leeds United’s Championship fixtures this season, making 40 appearances, scoring three goals and providing four assists.
Speaking on the podcast, Claisse said: “I get frustrated with Costa, I’ve backed him all year.
“He’s got so much ability you’re just saying, ‘go on, go at him’ and he just seems to stop I don’t know what it is.
“I used to watch him at Wolves a couple of years back and he was so good and when we got him I thought, this is great, he’s going to score a good 15-20 goals but he’s frustrating really.”
TIF Thoughts…
The Portuguese winger’s average performance rating in the league this season currently stands at 6.66/10 (via WhoScored). You could argue, that for a player the club is about to pay a transfer fee of £15m for, his rating is somewhat underwhelming.
Have you been frustrated by Helder Costa this season?
Yes
No
The former Benfica attacker has clearly left Claisse frustrated with his performances during this campaign but even during the 2017/18 season when Wolves ran away with the Championship title, Costa only managed two more goals and two more assists than he has to his name at the moment (as per Transfermarkt).
Taking all of that into consideration, we feel that perhaps Claisse’s remarks are a little bit harsh and his expectations for the player are beyond what he has actually proven that he can achieve.