Craig Scott

Thu 5 August 2021 8:10, UK

Ex-Tottenham and Netherlands star Rafael van der Vaart predicts Leeds United to be in a relegation battle in the Premier League next season.

On Wednesday, van der Vaart was working as a pundit for Ziggo Sport as they broadcasted Leeds’ 4-0 defeat to Ajax in a pre-season friendly at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

After watching Leeds get decimated by the Dutch giants, van der Vaart admitted that only one player impressed him.

As quoted by BetVictor on their Twitter account, the former Real Madrid midfielder said: “Raphinha is a great player but apart from that, its average. I think they will fight against relegation this season.”

Second-season syndrome?

Leeds were brilliant last season as they finished ninth in the Premier League.

It was the Whites’ first year back in the big-time for almost two decades and it’s fair to say that exceeded many peoples’ expectations.

But what about this season? Will they suffer second-season syndrome? Will they start to level off a bit or will the push on even further and seriously challenge for a spot in Europe?

We hope it’s the latter, but it could be more like the middle option.

We would take another ninth-placed finish, in all honesty.

Leeds fans won’t be happy to see the club go backwards, even if it’s a 10th-placed finish, so the most ambitious among us won’t even be too pleased with ninth.

But this is a slow process, we cannot raise expectations too high after one good season in the Premier League. Leeds need to be established first.

Marcelo Bielsa is definitely the man to continue building around at Elland Road with the manager improving every single season he’s had in West Yorkshire.

That improvement will start to slow down a bit but as long as we’re still getting better and showing that we’re still on the right path, that is fine with us.

As for van der Vaart’s prediction about us being in a relegation battle. Get real, mate.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites have tabled a bid to sign this new centre-forward.