MOT View: Bielsa has lost faith in Leeds attacker who must fear for future
After joining Leeds United for a reported £15.9m in the summer, Helder Costa has failed to live up to his billing and is looking like being on the verge of an exit.
Costa started Leeds’ first eight Premier League games of the season after his loan move last season was made permanent, and he scored a double in the 4-3 win over Fulham in September, but the winger has endured a torrid time of late.
Since his half-time withdrawal in the 4-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on November 7, Costa has not started another game for Leeds, and he has only appeared in three of their subsequent nine fixtures as the Whites have received mixed results, with a draw followed by a combination of four wins and four losses.
He was even left out of the 18-man squad against Newcastle United on December 16, with manager Marcelo Bielsa confirming his absence was not injury related.
Raphinha was the man who replaced Costa against Palace and the Brazilian has not looked back since, starting every single one of their fixtures since with goals against Everton and Newcastle highlights of his impressive displays.
The signing from Rennes has clearly superseded Costa in the Leeds ranks as Bielsa continues to resist regular rotation, despite the heavy festive fixture schedule.
Jack Harrison has been the other beneficiary of this as he has started every Premier League game of the season, barring the Manchester City game for which he was ineligible under the terms of his loan agreement.
Bielsa clearly has his preferred wingers in place now, and Costa seems to be wasting away on the bench with even Ian Poveda preferred as an option ahead of him.
Poveda has appeared nine times as a substitute in the Premier League this season with Bielsa a big fan of him as a late source of energy to trouble tiring opposition legs.
Furthermore, according to WhoScored metrics, no Leeds player to have played at least 300 Premier League minutes this season has a worse overall rating than Costa (6.46).
Raphinha and Harrison are also providing more key passes (1.7 and 2.2) and crosses (1.2 and one) per game than Costa (0.6 and 0.3), showing that the underlying statistics are aligning with the eye test.
This all leaves Costa with a Leeds career conundrum.
He can either stay and fight for his place and win round Bielsa, or he can look for pastures new and accept his time at the club has come to an end.
The evidence suggests the latter might be more appropriate.
In other Leeds United news, our view on how Paul Merson has it all wrong on Bielsa, despite his warning that came back to bite the Whites against Spurs.