Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things Leeds United.
One of the topics that Hay spent a little bit of time on was Helder Costa, who has barely featured in the Premier League since the season’s opening games.
The 27-year-old played in all eight of Leeds’ first eight league games, and he returned a goal and two assists in that time.
However, since then, he has only managed a further three league appearances and was handed a chance to shine against League Two side Crawley in the FA Cup but clearly struggled as he was awarded a 3/10 rating from the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Costa has only just joined the Whites permanently last summer and has until the summer of 2024 on his contract; however, Hay does think that he and others could find their places under threat in the summer.
He said: “I think with somebody like Costa, I don’t mean immediately, but going forward, he’s going to have to play an awful lot better than he did on Sunday to stay in the plans.
“I think it’s a very, very solid squad, a very, very tight squad, but clearly, if there were to be more additions in the summer, then it will put certain people at risk.”
Would you get rid of Costa?
Yes, he has really struggled
No, he will come good
TIF Thoughts on Costa’s future at Leeds…
The former Portuguese international, who is valued at £10.8m by Transfermarkt, has not really impressed in many of his league games this season, so it is no wonder that he has found himself not playing many games recently.
However, it must also be concerning that he struggled to perform against a League Two side and it is clear that Raphinha is ahead of him in the pecking order at the moment; when you compare the form of the two, it is easy to see why.
So, Costa’s future at Elland Road could come under threat if he doesn’t start turning in better performances, which we think is fair enough because he hasn’t been good enough this season in the league.