‘Turned it around’ – Patrick Bamford shares squad intervention for Leeds ace breaking rules
Patrick Bamford has claimed that the Leeds United squad had to step in to warn Ian Poveda after he continued to be late for training this season.
The young winger struggled to break into the first-team, but Marcelo Bielsa has since started to trust him to make an impact in the Premier League.
Bamford shared that Poveda is now one of the first on the training pitch, and is often caught doing work by himself at Thorp Arch.
Speaking on the Leeds United Podcast, Bamford claimed that Poveda is a great listener and has transformed his game.
“Ian Poveda, at the start of this season, he was turning up late.
“He lived in Manchester, and was struggling a little bit with the traffic and stuff but the lads put their arm around him and said ‘look, if you want to break into the team, you’ve got to change that’ and to be fair he listened.
“There’s times where you’d come in a 7:30 am, and Ian would be out on the pitch, doing stuff on his own – he’s turned it around.”
This is exactly what we want to hear about our younger talents such as Poveda.
Bielsa has transformed everything about the Whites, and the under-23s have become a massive part of that, with the likes of Poveda consistently proving himself when he isn’t used in the first-team.
The 20-year-old has come off the bench eight times already in the Premier League, which is double the number of appearances he made in the Championship.
Poveda has clearly impressed and is averaging more shots on goal, and fewer pieces of bad control according to WhoScored, as his all-round game continues to impress.
Bamford and the senior squad have a big influence on the younger players, and this is another example of that working effectively.
In other Leeds United news, Sky Sports pundit blown away by ‘Outstanding’ 24-year-old
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