Craig Scott

Fri 30 October 2020 15:33, UK

Marcelo Bielsa has refused to reveal whether Raphinha will earn his full Leeds United debut when Leicester make their way to West Yorkshire on Monday night.

Leeds host the Foxes at Elland Road for their seventh Premier League match of the campaign after beating Aston Villa 3-0 away at Villa Park in their last outing.

Leicester have also enjoyed their last few outings going into their trip to Leeds with Brendan Rodgers’ side beating Zorya Luhansk, Arsenal and AEK Athens in the last couple of weeks.

It remains to be seen what side Bielsa will name for his side’s showdown with the Foxes.

During his spell at Elland Road, the Argentine has been fairly consistent with his team selection but with Kalvin Phillips and Diego Llorente ruled out of the game, and other players who aren’t usually starters impressing, anything seems to be on the cards.

Raphinha, 23, is someone we’d expect to see starting for Leeds soon after the Whites landed the Brazilian winger for £17million from Rennes in the transfer window.

But Bielsa isn’t prepared to say whether or not the lightning-fast winger will start on Monday night.

We want to see Raphinha start a game for Leeds as soon as possible but we’re a lot less patient than Bielsa is.

He’s more than happy to wait and continue to allow the Brazilian time to settle down and get used to the fitness demands of playing for Leeds.

Raphinha’s legs will no doubt be twitching because he’ll want to start as well but Bielsa knows best – we should all know that by now.

And another issue for Bielsa would be who to drop for Raphinha.

Can he really justify dropping Helder Costa right now? We really don’t think he can as the Portuguese winger has turned from one of the most criticised players at Leeds into one of the best.

In other Leeds United news, this Leeds loanee has had a concussion scare.