Journalist Dean Jones has hinted that he wouldn’t be surprised if Tyler Roberts was shown the door at Elland Road in the summer by Jesse Marsch.
Tyler Roberts has featured in the majority of the Premier League games this season for Leeds, but in those 23 appearances, just seven of them have been starts. Indeed, despite the injury woes at Leeds this campaign, Roberts still found himself filling a sort of fringe player role under Marcelo Bielsa.
The Welsh international came on as a substitute for Jesse Marsch in his first game in charge, but before he had a chance to show what he can do, he was forced off due to picking up a hamstring injury which will see him out of action for the remainder of the season.
It seems as if Roberts’ injury may mean that he won’t have time to prove himself to Marsch as Dean Jones has reported to GIVEMESPORT that the “outlook” doesn’t look good for the 23-year-old.
“Leeds are going to be changing the way that they shape up again, so it’s bad timing for him and the outlook isn’t good,” Jones said.
TIF Thoughts on Dean Jones’ comments…
Of course, Roberts isn’t exactly a huge miss at this moment in time as he was an unused substitute three times in the Whites’ last five games that he was fit for, as per Sofascore.
Roberts has just one goal and one assist in his 23 Premier League matches this season, whilst averaging just 0.7 key passes per game. And if you compare this to fellow Leeds teammates, things don’t look too good. Mateusz Klich, Raphinha, Jack Harrison and Rodrigo all trump him for key passes per game and dribbles per game. And, dribbling is arguably one of his strongest assets, so Marsch doesn’t have too much to go off right now.
The Welshman is still only young so has plenty of time left to develop, but if Jesse Marsch manages to find a winning formula and then gets to add to things in the summer, perhaps Roberts’ lack of opportunity due to injury could damage his long-term hopes at Leeds.