Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford calls for knighthood for Marcus Rashford as he praises Manchester United star and Bielsa

Talking in an interview to TalkSport, the Leeds United star opened up about his strong start to the season and THAT hat trick against Aston Villa.

The Leeds man also spoke of Marcus Rashford's campaign to end child hunger over the school holidays.

"As footballers we get stick sometimes, sometimes fairly sometimes wrongly in the press, not enough of us use the power that we have to do good things in society. Marcus and Raheem have set an example for the rest of us. I’m older than him but I’m looking up to him like wow that’s incredible. If more people did that I’m sure we’d see more change.”

"Why not? [get a knighthood]. He’s 22 years old and he’s achieving things that some grown men in the government can’t seem to. Why shouldn’t he be Sir Marcus Rashford?”

Bamford also opened up on his electric start to the season, bagging six goals in the opening six games.

He said: "The first 4 games if you looked at it before the season started, every single one of them teams was up there last year, we was thinking it was gonna be a tough start to the season but to come away with 7 points was a brilliant start. Our style of play is perfect and it seems to be reaping its rewards at the minute.

-> Leeds United squad back Rashford's campaign for free school meals

“Ideally you’d like it to come in the first half, after I missed two pretty good chances in the first half I was thinking, keep shooting and it’s gonna go in. Sometimes when you get the first one the universe seems to spin in your direction.

“For me I’m proving it to myself. The first time I played in the Premier League on loan I believed I could play at that level but I didn’t show it and so it’s proving to myself I was right, I can play at this level and I can play in the Premier League, and proving it to anyone else is kind of a bonus.

“As long as I was working for the team, even if I wasn’t scoring Bielsa had that belief in me.

“But you’re only as good as your last game, we start fresh again this Monday coming, and for Bielsa and his team, the three goals are out the window now and we start fresh again.”

“It’s not so much a man to man hands on coach. We have individual meetings a night before a game and he tells you what he expects from the game tomorrow. Throughout the week on the training pitch he is so demanding and he makes sure you keep your levels high. He feels like he can improve us more and more and I’m sure he can.

“Even if we won every game he would be even more intense because he wouldn’t want us to take our foot off the pedal.

“This year especially with the squad we’ve got, there’s such good competition that everyone knows they’ve got to play well.”

Speaking about calls for his inclusion in the England squad, he added: "I’ve played six games and done quite well but it’s unfair to compare myself to other England strikers at this level. By the end of the season if I’m up there in the top scorers chart then we can talk about if I deserve a place in the England squad.”