It’s that time of year again where we start thinking about clubs’ end of season awards, and at Leeds United, it’s hard to decide who will be getting each accolade.
The Player of the Season running is wide open with the likes of Patrick Bamford, Raphinha and Stuart Dallas all having a shout of winning the Whites’ Player of the Year.
However, the Young Player of the Season award is seemingly only a two-horse race.
Indeed, Leeds haven’t used too many young players this term, so one would have to imagine that either Pascal Struijk or Illan Meslier will be receiving this accolade.
Meslier has been incredible for Leeds this term, but for our money, Struijk has to be the man to receive this award.
Ben White, who was of course the recipient of this prize last season, looked as though he was going to be sorely missed at Elland Road this term, but the emergence of Struijk has made sure Leeds haven’t looked back since White returned to Brighton.
It seemed incredibly unlikely that Struijk would be a key player this season. After all, he rarely featured in the Championship and Leeds signed two international defenders this summer.
However, he was included in the Whites’ starting XI on the opening day against Liverpool, and since then he hasn’t looked back.
Since then he’s made 19 starts, averaging 2 tackles per game and 1.9 interceptions per match, and he’s put himself in contention for his first-ever international cap as Roberto Martinez has reportedly tried to call him up for Belgium, a national team where the centre-back spots are very competitive.
Struijk has been Leeds’ breakout star of the season, and while Meslier has been consistently great, it’s the massive improvement that we’ve seen from Struijk over the past 12 months that makes him the number one contender for Leeds’ Young Player of the Year award.
The fact that Liam Cooper recently described him as ‘different class’ tells you all you need to know about Struijk.
Ben White won the award last season, but this time around, it’s surely going to Pascal Struijk.
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