Leeds United might have enough hungry centre-midfield options from within - David Prutton
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It’s a tremendous position that Klich has worked himself into and you congratulate the manager Marcelo Bielsa for playing a big part in that.
Klich was a very serviceable midfielder, but his standing now is testament to the way that he has developed and it’s thoroughly deserved that he is now spoken about as one of the first names on the teamsheet.
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Hide AdThe question being asked by many is that if Klich has to come out of the side then who goes in to replace him?
There was talk of Norwich City’s Todd Cantwell coming in and he is a slightly more attacking midfielder but time under Bielsa might have rounded his game meaning he wouldn’t be just being boxed off as an attacking midfielder. You have got to be pretty interchangeable.
Leeds had also been monitoring Derby County’s Louie Sibley and I have been very impressed with what I have seen of him, although he is still a baby in footballing terms.
With a player such as Sibley, you have to look at the potential of the player and what you are getting him for with a view to what you could turn him into.
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Hide AdThere’s a lot of very big ticks in boxes and I am not saying you have got to buy ready-made players to come straight into the team because, even with the more established players, Bielsa has shown that you have got to wait your turn and earn your opportunity.
Sibley is definitely one to keep an eye on but Leeds look okay at this moment in time, while of course any team across world football is at the mercy of form and fitness.
If something needs to be addressed in January then I get the feeling that money would be available and that Bielsa would have worked his way into a position, not where he gets what he wants, but I think to an extent where he is capable of asking for what he wants and getting it.
But he also seems to be quite understanding that a scatter-gun approach probably isn’t going to serve him as well because what I have seen from that team is togetherness, team spirit and chemistry.
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Hide AdThat team ethic and team spirit is not the easiest thing to conjure up, chucking a load of adults together and expecting them to get to the point where they have a real empathy and affinity for each other and that they want each other to perform at the highest level.
But that’s what Bielsa has managed to get. You have got to be careful about the characters that you bring in and I think he has done well so far.
In terms of the importance of Klich, I covered Poland’s draw with Italy and he didn’t look put of place.
He is a player that has worked himself into such a strong position of being an automatic pick that you have got to trust and hope, like with any footballer, that he stays fit and stays in form.
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Hide AdThat’s his position and his shirt that he has got and to deal in hypotheticals and what ifs is difficult. Yes, if he was injured and you had bought someone in of a similar ilk then great.
But if you have got lads that are waiting in the wings that are gagging for the chance, that can be as timely as having a new signing.
You could bring a kid like Jamie Shackleton in and say ‘here is what Klich has done over the course of two or three seasons now, we’ve not got that for a little while, go and replicate it and fill that gap for me.’
That’s the challenge that has to be laid down.
You might be in a position where that happens or where Kalvin Phillips has a spell out of the side.
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Hide AdIt’s obviously great to have all of your best players at your disposal most of the time, but at some stage you are going to have to deal without them and you can’t just have players stacked on a shelf saying ‘come on you, go and have a go.’
You need to have lads hungry enough and players that know the system well enough to jump in and hit the ground running.
With Bielsa, you get the feeling that the lads he has got are all well-drilled to step in as and when they are needed.
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Thank you Laura Collins