Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has been discussing Pascal Struijk, who is valued at £13.5 million (as per Transfermarkt), and his role in the team.
Having had something of a gradual introduction to life in the Leeds United first team in 2018/19 and 2019/20, the Dutchman has become a regular part of the Leeds United side, and has this season started 20 of the club’s Premier League games.
Although that has been helped by the incredible injury crisis that the club has gone through at times this season
As the club relayed ahead of their clash with Southampton this weekend, the likes of Liam Cooper, Diego Llorente and Kalvin Phillips, who play either central defence or defensive midfield – Struijk’s’ positions – are likely to be returning for the game as they will be “available to play minutes”.
Although whether that means that they are going to start or will come off the bench to slowly get back to full fitness is yet to be determined.
Speaking on the latest edition of The Phil Hay Show (52:35), Hay claimed that he would like to see the Dutchman start the game regardless, hinting that it might be more to do with plans for the long-term future rather than just trying to do the job in the interim:
“Struijk hasn’t played well I don’t think recently. But when I look at Struijk, I always think to myself, ‘this is the player who I think Leeds in their minds think he’ll be succeeding Cooper long-term on the left side of defence’.
“And given that the pressure is off slightly after the last two games and the last two results, this would seem to me to be a good time to try and let Struijk play his way back into form and to try and get a bit of a run of games there. You know, so he can start to grow a little bit more.”
TIF Thoughts on Phil Hay’s comments about Pascal Struijk at Leeds United…
Could Struijk be club captain one day?
Yes
No
Given the number of times he has played this season, you can sort of see where Hay is coming from when it comes to him being a long-term replacement for captain Cooper who is currently 30 compared to Struijk being just 22.
And as Hay says, given that their last two results have been a major boost in terms of staying in the league, with statistical data site FiveThirtyEight only giving them a 23% chance of relegation, you can excuse the club for looking towards the future a little bit and what the team might look like next season and beyond.
So even if the likes of centre-backs Cooper and Llorente are available, then it would make sense for Struijk to start the game at the very least.
In other news: ‘Important’ – Fabrizio Romano reveals big ‘information’ he’s ‘received’ about Leeds