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Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has raved about the quality of his key player Patrick Bamford, who he’s described as a “presence in the box”.

Bamford, who earns £35,000-a-week (Spotrac), has been one of the major success stories at Elland Road following the club’s return to the Premier League this campaign.

The English striker has scored 13 goals in just 28 league games so far this season.

He was though forced off injured in the first half of Leeds’ 0-0 draw with Chelsea at the weekend.

Fortunately, Bielsa confirmed on Wednesday that the injury is not serious, and he’s expected to play on Friday away to Fulham.

The Whites manager also added a glowing verdict about the centre-forward’s ability:

“Bamford contributes goals, he makes runs in behind, he has presence in the box, he has combativeness to recover the ball and he has continuity in his participation throughout the game,” Bielsa said, as quoted by Leeds Live.

TBR’s View:

Bamford has developed his game to become an all-round striker that has no glaring weakness.

His finishing can still improve, but he’s become better in that aspect, and the way he’s performing at Premier League level shows that.

His relentless work-rate is something always spoken about, but perhaps not so much his ability in both boxes.

He offers a strong aerial threat with his heading at both ends of the pitch, plus his movement when in the opposition’s box is so intelligent to create goalscoring opportunities for himself.