Leeds United: Joel Piroe to use what’s happened to him as ‘motivation’ at Elland Road

Dean Jones believes Joel Piroe will use his current situation at Leeds United as “motivation” to get back into the team.

Speaking to GiveMeSport on Friday (16 February), the former Eurosport journalist said the 24-year-old is the latest example of someone who is not guaranteed a place at Elland Road after recently finding himself on the bench.

He admitted that you would have thought the Dutch forward would be “nailed on” to start every week after being the “big signing” of the summer transfer window, but he added it’s not been the case so far and that is serving the Whites well given that they’re still in the race for promotion.

“We’ve seen a lot of situations at Leeds where players aren’t guaranteed of their place, and Piroe is the latest example of somebody that’s in that situation,” said Jones.

“I think he will use it as motivation to get back into the team, to be honest, and you’ve got to prove that you’re worthy of it.

“He was the big signing in the summer and you’d have thought that as a result of that, he would have been nailed on to be in the team week after week. But it’s not the case, and so far, things are serving Leeds pretty well given that they’re still in that race for promotion.”

Joel Piroe has a role to play at Leeds United

There are still several games left to play and Piroe is likely to play an important role in Leeds’ push for promotion before the season comes to an end.

He has recently fell victim to the performances of fellow forward Patrick Bamford after he’s managed to rediscover his form of previous campaigns since the turn of the year.

The Dutchman has, however, shown flashes of brilliance this season despite not scoring as many goals as he would have liked, registering 11 times in 31 appearances for the Whites.

Leeds United
Patrick Bamford’s injury problems could have opened the Leeds United door for Raja Mujica in 2021-22.

While he may not be getting quite as many minutes as he would like at the moment, the fact a player of his quality is breathing down Bamford and Georginio Rutter’s necks will be spurring them on to play at their best every week.

After being handed a start in midweek and getting on the scoresheet against Swansea City, Piroe could have already earned his place back in the lineup, but it will now be down to Daniel Farke whether he gets the nod against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday (17 February).

In other Leeds United news, Ally McCoist has reacted to what Daniel Farke said about a controversial incident.

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