Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa gives Manchester City winger Jack Harrison all the credit as Victor Orta's prediction comes true

Victor Orta got it right with his summer prediction that Jack Harrison would be a difference maker in the Championship and an important player for Leeds United this season.

The fact that he is yet to record a goal or an assist in 2020 tells you next to nothing about Harrison’s contribution to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.

Nearing the conclusion of his second season-long loan at Elland Road, the Manchester City winger has been ever-present in the Championship, starting every single game.

Until he was substituted late on against Hull City on Saturday, having exhausted himself with an outstanding performance, he had been on the pitch for every single minute of action since the 3-3 draw with Cardiff City on December 14.

Bielsa’s love for the 23-year-old can be seen in the 94 per cent of Leeds’ league match minutes Harrison has played, a result of both the head coach’s patience and his young charge’s consistency.

Bielsa had confidence in the summer that he could get more out of players like Harrison and, even with 10 games remaining, an exhaustive list of metrics prove the youngster can already lay claim to a significant and consistent improvement in almost every single facet of his game.

His match minutes are up on last season, he is passing the ball with greater accuracy, he has scored one more goal, doubled his assists, taken more shots, got more of them on target, crossed the ball more accurately, doubled his attempted take-ons, more than doubled his progressive runs, passed the ball more, been more successful with his passes in the final third, made more through balls and created more chances.

Of the chances he has created, 14 have been ‘big chances’ and that puts him in elite company in the Championship, with only Niclas Eliasson of Bristol City [16] and Barry Bannan of Sheffield Wednesday [15] ahead of him.

Last season he created four big chances.

Defensively he has improved as well, winning the ball back more often and making more interceptions, while equalling last season’s tackles won per game.

He wins more free-kicks and he’s caught offside fewer times and something that stands out among all these numbers is the sheer scale of his contribution to Leeds’ play in the opposition box.

Last season Harrison took 97 touches in the box and didn’t even break the Championship’s top 40 players for this metric, but this season he has already registered 149 and sits fourth.

With so much more time on the ball in dangerous areas, it is no surprise that his expected goals and expected assists are both up from last season too and it must be noted that he has been unlucky not to hit the net more often – Saturday saw him crash a wonderstrike against the woodwork – and not to claim more assists – in Leeds’ last three games he laid on 10 chances for team-mates that did not result in goals, which is clearly no fault of his.

And his attacking threat is all the more impressive when his defensive duties are taken into consideration. Harrison has, at times, been tasked with patrolling the entire left side of the pitch on his own, with no left-back in support. He is a winger who can do both sides of the game. A true Bielsa player.

The Whites head coach should, but won’t take credit for the rise of Harrison and lays all the praise at the lightning-quick feet of a player whose attitude and attention to detail he obviously admires.

“He crosses better and he finishes better,” said Bielsa of his loanee, earlier in the campaign.

“In the last season, he used to cross worse and he used to finish worse than in this season.

“He has progressed a lot and it’s down to him, his progress.

“He is a very professional player, he works a lot. He is always looking at every detail and he is improving clearly.”

The fact that Harrison has managed to study every detail and improve upon each of them is a feather in his cap.

Another is Bielsa’s revelation that Harrison is as good at playing on the right as £15m-rated Helder Costa, but even better than the Portuguese on the left.

And Harrison’s improvement might just temper some of the frustration with Costa’s performances, which, it has to be said, have been improving steadily of late.

Back in September it was Harrison frustrating fans with inaccurate crosses and calls for Bielsa to give the left-wing slot to Costa, who hadn't yet broken into the starting XI, were getting louder. Five months on, it is almost unthinkable that Harrison would not be hogging the left touchline when Leeds kick off against Huddersfield Town at Elland Road on Saturday.

Orta believes the second season for a player is key and Bielsa believes in patience during what he calls an ‘adaptation period’ so Leeds might come to enjoy an upgrade in the level Costa can deliver, next term, in the same way former New York City man Harrison has increased his offensive and defensive output in his sophomore year at Leeds.

Regardless of whether or not Costa follows in Harrison's footsteps, the latter is one signing Orta and Leeds can say came good, just as they expected, and the £8m option they have for him this summer is beginning to look bargainous.