'So many good things in just one player' - Leeds United defender set to join Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips and Illan Meslier in superstar category

Current accepted wisdom puts 21-year-old Illan Meslier, the only goalkeeper under the age of 23 playing regular Premier League football and one of only two under the age of 29 to have played every top flight minute so far this season, in that category.

With 45 starts in a league accepted by Marcelo Bielsa as the best in the world under his belt already and such consistency for one so young, his value to Leeds cannot be overstated.

Raphinha, 24, waltzes straight into the conversation for obvious reasons that present themselves on a regular basis with increasing fanfare and noise.

The freshly minted Brazilian international is the club’s most dangerous attacker, an on-field leader and a man who will make countless memories before he makes the club tens of millions in profit.

Kalvin Phillips is a player of huge significance and comfortably inside the bracket around Meslier and Raphinha.

Several others are vital to the team, both on and off the field and there’s a strong argument for Patrick Bamford to be included with the aforementioned three, but if you were to talk about prize assets, players for whom only eye-watering offers could ever be considered, then that trio would come to mind instantaneously and simultaneously.

Struijk is surely not so far behind and as Bielsa said at Carrow Road on Sunday, after Leeds United’s 2-1 win over Norwich City, there is so much to like about the defender.

“He’s a player who has very important conditions,” said the head coach.

“He’s a clear exponent of the type of centre-backs that the Dutch create. It’s not difficult for him to play in front of the centre-backs as a defensive midfielder. He did so very well against Wolverhampton. When he plays on the left side of a back three he has to go out wide, and he doesn’t suffer. He has a great aerial game and he manages his right foot very well.

“That’s so many good things in just one player.”

The quality of the opposition must be noted but even so, Struijk was simply stellar on Sunday.

Playing on the left of a back three he wasn’t quite flawless but there were so many good things to highlight in just one player’s performance.

He reacted quickly to snuff out offensive threats, halting Ozan Kabak twice early on and winning all five of his tackles across the 90 minutes.

“He gave Josh Sargent a difficult time and used his considerable frame to good advantage more than once.

In possession there were a lot of early touches, simple passes that went forward if they could or sideways if not, but almost always to the feet of a team-mate in space.

The role he was given pushed him right to the touchline on a number of occasions and even when given little room to manoeuvre he produced some lovely football.

One first half example saw him take a pass out wide under pressure and clip a nice pass down the line that found Jack Harrison. Another saw him put the ball in an area where Daniel James was favourite to arrive first, which he did.

If his first half was quietly efficient, his second was noticeably impactful.

With the game’s crucial first goal yet to appear he spotted a chance to run with the ball, escaping the Norwich press long enough to open up attacking options. It’s a tactic teams use to exploit Leeds’ man-to-man marking system and it worked a treat, gaining territory and enough space and time to play a nicely disguised pass into James, who found Raphinha, who found the net.

Norwich responded almost instantly with an equaliser and Leeds responded to that with a second.

Again, it was Struijk sensing a chance to push forward and press high, taking a chance and winning the ball back as Norwich looked to break.

It was from that possession that Leeds very swiftly retook the lead through Rodrigo.

He wasn’t perfect – Diego Llorente wasn’t the only defender to lose his man at the corner from which Norwich scored, Struijk was outsmarted and outmuscled by Grant Hanley, but that nous will come.

There are only four centre-backs under the age of 23 with more Premier League minutes than Struijk this season and like Meslier he can be considered a precocious talent.

To have more than 2,500 minutes of Premier League football by 22 is a phenomenal start to any centre-back’s career. Liam Cooper was 29 by the time he managed that.

Statistically Struijk compares well with Gabriel, Mohammed Salisu, Marc Guéhi and Kristoffer Ajer – his four fellow young top flight central defenders.

He’s passing the ball with a higher accuracy for medium passes, long balls and in general. He’s making more blocks, tackles, pressures and interceptions per 90 minutes and winning more tackles, too. The main takeaway from those defensive numbers is that he’s being kept very busy. To encounter action on that scale and still give a strong impression of a player handling the top flight, bodes well.

With injuries cropping up at centre-half too frequently since last summer, Leeds need Struijk. They need him to be on the front foot, to bring the ball out of defence like he did for the first goal at Norwich, like Ben White did so well.

What Struijk needs is to keep playing. If he does, and continues to look so at home in the Premier League, it won’t be too long at all before the young quietly spoken man of few words joins those three others in the big conversation.