da dobrowin： Leeds United are in a difficult situation ahead of Friday’s game against Aston Villa.
da bet7： The Whites have to navigate their next few games without their star man as Kalvin Phillips picked up an injury against Wolves that is likely to keep him out for the next six weeks.
Marcelo Bielsa has recently revealed that his plan is to use Pascal Struijk as a potential replacement for Phillips, but we can’t help but feel there is a better option in their youth ranks.
Struijk is not a defensive midfielder by trade, he’s only played there four times in his career, and that may get exploited against Villa on Friday especially with their tricky attack-minded midfield trio of Ross Barkley, Jack Grealish and John McGinn.
Nohan Kenneh may be the better option at this point despite being just 17 years old.
Kenneh has previously stated that his footballing idol is Kalvin Phillips, so that bodes well for potentially trying to replace him, but he’s also stated that he would watch videos of Patrick Vieira to look at his qualities in midfield.
The young star was asked who his footballing idol was, to which he replied:
“Currently I look up to Kalvin Phillips as (we) both play in a similar position, but I occasionally watch videos of Patrick Vieira for his qualities in midfield.”
The teenager describes himself as aggressive and hard-working, that’s exactly what a Marcelo Bielsa anchor-man needs to be, and while Struijk can also be described in the same way, he’s not a natural holding midfielder like Kenneh.
Of course, the main objection to Kenneh getting a game against Aston Villa is his lack of experience, but every player needs to make that jump to senior football at some point, and the teenager may never get such a clear pathway to the first-team.
We’re not saying that Kenneh should be the starting option for the next six weeks, but Bielsa should at least give him a run out on Friday to analyse whether or not he is worthy of playing ahead of Struijk.