The evolution and the future of Leeds United's consistently wonderful creator Pablo Hernandez

So it is little wonder that a rumour about an injury to the Spanish wizard created panic among the club’s support.

The gossip, which emerged last week, was not entirely without foundation – Hernandez did indeed ‘feel something’ in training.

But Leeds are hopeful that their 35-year-old attacking midfielder will be available for Sunday’s Championship re-opener, and confident that even if he isn’t, whatever it was he felt would not be sufficient to keep him out long-term.

With only nine games remaining, there is a good case for wrapping the veteran in cotton wool, but that’s not the way football, especially Bielsa’s version of it, works.

Hernandez, his peers say, is a model professional who turns up for pre-season in incredible shape and leads by example in training.

That’s not to say he’s reckless, however.

To play as well as he does, for as long as he has, and to operate as close to the highest level of the sport as he is at this age, requires an acknowledgement that his body needs looking after.

“When you reach this age you need to be more careful about the food you eat and the recovery time but that’s football, that’s how it is,” he said.

“It’s not the same for the young lads.

“I know this and I try to do the best for my body, the best things to recover for the next games.

“I have evolved in this aspect too.

“Fifteen years ago when I started to play, football clubs maybe didn’t have nutritionists and people who just work in this area, looking at your food and your recovery.

“Now I think all the clubs pay a lot of attention to this because it’s important to the players.”

What Leeds get, by helping Hernandez to take care of himself, is a goalscoring chance every 30.1 minutes.

They get more through passes than any other Championship club get from an individual player and they get lots of points.

When he scores, they win just shy of 75 per cent of their matches.

And as Bielsa himself pointed out, when Hernandez plays well, Leeds United play well.

The head coach believes his wizard is more effective in the middle of the pitch than out wide, where he traditionally roamed and caused havoc as the trickiest of wingers.

Hernandez had not played centrally with any kind of regularity until 2013/14 while at Swansea, but his debut campaign as a Leeds player was the first time he was employed almost exclusively as a central attack-minded midfielder.

He has had to evolve, but he does possess natural ability that suits a number 10.

His quick feet, that made him so difficult to handle on the touchline, are just as much of a problem centrally, around the edge of the penalty area.

The passes he produces – think of the deft ball into the path of Mateusz Klich for the winner at Boro – and the goals he scores – think Reading at home where he danced into the area and past defenders to find the top corner or Bristol City away when he started the season with a pearler from 20 yards – show the touch and intelligence that have helped him make the transition.

Now, with another string to his bow, he is a more than adequate option for Bielsa on either flank or behind a striker.

It has not, in his eyes, made him a better player, just a player playing a different game.

“I’m maybe not a better player,” he said.

“I’m the same player, but maybe my game has changed.

“My game has evolved over my career.

“At the beginning of my career I was a winger or a wing-back, I didn’t play too much in the middle.

“With the passage of years I started playing more in the middle.

“When you learn new things in football you can play in different positions. I have evolved a lot.”

He has assumed what is likely to be his final form as a player. But the end is not yet in sight for a man Leeds fans hope will never change.

“When I finish my contract I will be 37 and then, who knows?

“If at 37 I feel good and the club want me, why not continue here?

“I try not to think too much about the future, just to be focused on the next game and to be fully focused on Leeds.”