MOT View: Leeds 20y/o has a lot to prove if he wants a future at Elland Rd
Pascal Struijk joined Leeds United from Ajax in January 2018 and is clearly a defender who Marcelo Bielsa has had his eye on.
The 20-year-old has been named in Bielsa’s matchday squad in the Championship on a number of occasions and even made his senior debut in December when he came off the bench against Hull.
Struijk didn’t really have a lot to do in that match but was handed another chance to show his worth in the next game when Leeds came up against Cardiff.
Everyone should remember that game as Leeds were 3-0 at one stage but ended up bottling their lead to draw 3-3 with the Welsh club.
Struijk came off the bench in the final stages of the game and played just 11 minutes [WyScout] – but those 11 minutes had a major impact on the final result.
In fairness to the former Netherlands Under-17 international, Bielsa simply shouldn’t have played him.
Leeds United were 3-2 up when Struijk was introduced to the action and not long after, Robert Glatzel scored Cardiff’s equaliser courtesy of the Dutchman’s poor defensive positioning.
As seen in the image below, Struijk is completely out of position as Kalvin Phillips aims to put pressure on a Cardiff attacker. He’s occupying the space between the ball and the last defender when, at this stage of the game, he shouldn’t have been taking any risks and should have sat deep, keeping a flat defensive line that’s hard to play against.
Because Struijk had stepped forward out of the defensive line, it allowed Cardiff’s Glatzel to get onto a pass into the penalty area.
Struijk would have easily intercepted it if he was two or three yards back and sat in position but Glatzel was able to run in behind the Dutchman to score.
Struijk hasn’t had many opportunities to impress Bielsa and based on that one moment against Cardiff, it became clear that he wasn’t yet good enough to step up and play in high-pressure situations.
Luckily for Struijk he wasn’t completely dropped and made Bielsa’s bench for the next five Championship matches.
However he turns 21 in the summer and his contract expires next year.
He definitely needs to develop a lot more than he has been at Thorp Arch and perhaps a loan spell away from the club will do him the world of good.
In other Leeds United news, Samuel Saiz has revealed how he felt about leaving for good last summer.