Leeds ace raves about £4m teammate who could give Bielsa a selection headache

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Leeds United winger Stuart Dallas has praised Elland Road teammate Tyler Roberts ahead of the Whites’ Championship clash with Huddersfield on Saturday, in conversation with the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Roberts has been unfortunate with injuries during his two years at Elland Road so far, with just 44 appearances under his belt since his arrival in January 2018.

The 21-year-old suffered a shin injury not long after his arrival at Leeds which ruled him out of the rest of the 2017-18 season and has been very much in and out of the squad since, missing the start of this season too.

However, Roberts was brought on Marcelo Bielsa against Hull City last time out, the Welshman replacing Patrick Bamford, and went on to score a late brace to seal a 4-0 win for Leeds.

Speaking about the third goal of the match, which began through Dallas and Jack Harrison, the 28-year-old joked about Mateusz Klich’s ball being meant for him, before praising Roberts for getting on the scoresheet.

“I didn’t really have anywhere else to go (with the ball),” Dallas told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “But you see straight away it (the pass) takes four or five players out of the game.

“Jack Harrison does unbelievably well again. We then break at pace. It comes into Tyler and out to Helder and even Helder’s awareness to get it across to Klichy and then Klichy’s touch back… I think it was meant for me!

“But I’m delighted for Tyler. He’s had a tough time and you can see what it meant to everybody and him.”

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Roberts is an incredibly talented player and it’s a shame he’s suffered such a poor run of injuries over the past two years since his £4million move (Daily Mail), so his goalscoring heroics against Hull were a joyous occasion for everyone connected with Leeds.

But aside from the personal aspect, Bielsa could now have just the man to deploy up front instead of Bamford, who is still struggling to convert enough chances into goals, and Jean-Kevin Augustin, who is sidelined.

Leeds have clawed themselves back into automatic promotion contention after a blip which was at risk of becoming a collapse like the previous season, so they must not let this slip – and given Roberts is clinical in front of goal, he should be starting for Bielsa’s side from now on if fit.