Leeds United transfer rumours: Whites star tipped for major exit, West Ham plot defender raid

The Leeds United head coach handed the 22-year-old a brand new assignment last week, in the knowledge that Junior Firpo might not make the Leicester City game.

Bielsa’s plan was to use Struijk on the left-hand side of a central defensive trio in the event that Brendan Rodgers played two up front, something the former Ajax youngster is well used to and did very well against Norwich City seven days earlier.

If, as transpired, Leicester had Jamie Vardy in a lone striker role, Struijk would play as a left-back.

Leeds lined up in a 3-3-1-3 to begin with at Elland Road on Sunday before switching to a back four, Struijk taking up a position he had played only once before, in the Under-23s’ Premier League 2 draw with Blackburn in September.

According to Bielsa, Struijk did all he could to prepare for the challenge.

“He’s a very hard-working man in the mental and the physical and in the assimilation of a new position,” said Bielsa.

“Throughout the week, he was constantly looking for the solutions to the problems of new positions.”

The uncertainty over Leicester’s formation caused little concern for Bielsa, whose players are by now well accustomed to playing with a back three or a back four.

“It is not a problem,” he said.

“For a long time, we have been going through all the tactical situations that can happen in a game and we never have to come up against new or unknown situations.”

But the head coach did recognise the increased difficulty of Struijk’s switch to the left of a back four, yet another task Bielsa felt the increasingly versatile defender handled impressively.

“It is not the same for Pascal to play a centre-back in a back four as playing as a wide centre-back in a back three, to play as a left full-back in a back four, as a defensive mid by himself or as a double defensive mid as he played in the last few minutes,” said Bielsa.

“All of those variety of positions which he resolves naturally convert him into a very necessary player. It’s not common that a player who is 1.9 metres tall, that weighs more than 83 kilos, has the agility, the management of both feet, the aerial game, the capacity of coordination to adapt to all those different demands.”