Marcelo Bielsa reacts to Pascal Struijk’s display in Leeds win

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Marcelo Bielsa has labelled Pascal Struijk’s display in Leeds United’s win over Leicester City very positive, in comments reported by Leeds Live.

The Whites produced an outstanding performance at the King Power Stadium. They had gone a goal down early on, but they ultimately won 3-1.

Patrick Bamford will understandably steal many of the headlines. The striker scored one and provided two assists. But Struijk deserves enormous praise for his display.

The 21-year-old started after replacing Diego Llorente in the early stages of the win over Newcastle. And he produced a superb performance against the Foxes.

There had been doubts over whether Struijk would start. Some Leeds fans may have been expecting a starting lineup that involved Luke Ayling starting at centre-back and Mateusz Klich coming into the midfield.

Bielsa was asked about picking Struijk ahead of Klich, and subsequently offered a brief assessment of the youngster’s effort.

“The decision to play Pascal was not linked with Klich,” he said, as reported by Leeds Live. “I didn’t choose between Pascal and Klich but anyway I think that Pascal’s performance was very positive.”

Struijk was composed throughout the game. He looks at home in the top flight. And if he continues to perform at this level, Llorente and Robin Koch may face a fight to get back into the team.

There are likely to be times when Struijk’s inexperience is exposed. But Leeds certainly appear to have a special talent on their hands – as Sunday proved.