Patrick Bamford’s hat-trick has to raise Leeds debate ahead of Bolton

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Leeds United ace Patrick Bamford continued his return from injury with a brilliant display for the Under-23s side on Tuesday against Burnley, which must surely leave senior manager Marcelo Bielsa with a selection headache.

The 25-year-old has been absent since September with a knee injury, but was back on the bench last weekend in the win over QPR.

He featured for Leeds in a youth team game against a Burnley outfit that included Tom Heaton and scored a brilliant hat-trick to boost his confidence.

Bamford linked up well several times with Jack Clarke throughout the match and one of his goals was a spectacular chip over Heaton that highlighted his confidence.

The centre-forward cost £7million (Yorkshire Evening Post) in the summer to bring to Elland Road and the left-footed ace must be desperate to show the Yorkshire giants what he can really do in front of goal.

Bamford must be raring to go for Leeds, but Bielsa may not find it easy throwing him straight back into the team.

Kemar Roofe is the first-choice striker as it stands and at the weekend made it 10 goals from 16 games across all competitions with another brilliant display.

Leeds travel to 23rd-placed Bolton Wanderers on Saturday in their next fixture and it will be interesting to see if Bielsa is tempted to deploy both centre-forwards.