‘Incredible Hulk’: Phil Hay claims Leeds staff surprised by physique of ‘monster’ Whites signing
Summer signing Robin Koch surprised the Leeds United staff with his physique, leading one of the backroom staff to call the centre-back the “Incredible Hulk”.
Koch came in to replace Ben White over the summer after Brighton refused to do business with Leeds.
But he was a transfer years in the making after Hay claimed that Victor Orta had been tracking him since his days at Middlesbrough.
Writing in a piece on The Athletic Hay said, “One of the things that registered about Koch when he arrived in England and underwent a medical was his physique.
“If he looked slight from a distance then close up he was blessed with strength and surprising muscle mass; the Incredible Hulk, as one of the medical team jokingly called him.”
And one of Koch’s former teammates at Freiburg thinks that Koch is destined for the top at Leeds.
Italy international Vincenzo Grifo said to Hay, “He’s an outstanding organiser. His improvement is incredibly rapid, including in the national team, and he’s on a path to become a world-class player, a monster centre-back.”
Monster mash
Koch has had a tough time since arriving at Leeds but finally looks like he’s settling in.
His first game was as tough as it gets, against Liverpool at Anfield, and his debut was made tougher as he had to partner youngster Pascal Struijk in the centre of defence.
Injuries to Liam Cooper, Diego Llorente and Kalvin Phillips have seen the backline changed a lot this season by Marcelo Bielsa, but the pairing expected to be the number one – Cooper and Koch – finally looked like they were clicking against Arsenal last weekend.
Leeds kept a clean sheet after shipping eight in the two previous games but still boast the third-worst defence in the Premier League.
For a club that boasted the best defence in the Championship – and who have kept the most clean sheets of any English club since Bielsa joined – it shows the leap up in class to the Premier League.
Koch and Cooper should get another chance to bed in on Saturday against Everton.
The comments about Koch’s physique are surprising. He certainly doesn’t look like a powerhouse of a centre-back you’d call the “Incredible Hulk” but we hope he goes to realise Grifo’s prediction and become a real-life monster.
In other Leeds United news, ‘A right tanking’ – Vinnie Jones predicts winner in Leeds clash v Everton