Ex-Leeds United defender hails 'sublime' Georginio Rutter but identifies area for improvement

Ex-Leeds United defender Jon Newsome has heaped praise on 'sublime' Whites forward Georginio Rutter following Saturday's 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers - but has offered a piece of advice to the Frenchman.

Rutter starred for Leeds again as he provided the assist for Dan James' first-half goal at Ewood Park. That was his eighth assist of the season, and his 12th goal contribution with the 21-year-old Frenchman scoring four times in 19 Championship games.

After joining Leeds in January in the midst of a Premier League relegation battle, Rutter has firmly settled at Leeds and took the acclaim of the sold-out away support after the full-time whistle on Saturday. Along with his eight assists, Rutter has also created 16 big chances this season, which is five more than any other player.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds, Newsome, who was with Leeds as a player between 1991 and 1994, hailed the performance from Rutter but feels one area of improvement for the forward is to score more goals. He said: "There’s time where the stuff he does is sublime, it’s verging on the ridiculous the way he drifts past people and uses his body so well now to lean into people and use their body weight to get on the half turn.

“And then there’s the other bits that he’s so frustrating. If I was coaching him, the one thing that I’d be trying to instil into him is that I want him to score me goals. So I want him to play in between the posts. I don’t want him drifting out wide too much.

“I understand that he does that at times but I think he does that a little bit too often for me. We’ve got two really exceptional wide players, we’ve got two great subs on the bench in [Willy] Gnonto and Jaidon Anthony. So we don’t really need you out there all the time.”