Leeds United full-back could get a second chance.
Leeds United tried to solve their left-back problem by signing Laurens De Bock in January from Club Brugge.
It did not work out successfully, with England under-20 international Tom Pearce pushing him out of the starting line up.
One option for De Bock to salvage his Leeds career after the poor start is for him to feature as a centre-back under Marcelo Bielsa.
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Bielsa’s preferred system is to play three at the back and he has a penchant for converting full-backs to play in his back three.
Leeds are light on quality centre-backs and so utilising De Bock as a centre-back as part of a three, has to become an option.
De Bock may have had his troubles last season but tackling was not one of them.
His tackle success rate was the joint second best out of Leeds defenders, behind only Pontus Jansson, and superior to captain Liam Cooper.
| Tackles Accuracy | |
|---|---|
| Pontus Jansson | 77% |
| Luke Ayling | 73% |
| Laurens De Bock | 73% |
| Tom Pearce | 71% |
| Liam Cooper | 65% |
| Matthew Pennington | 64% |
| Conor Shaughnessy | 50% |
Tom Pearce also stands up well in this regard from a smaller sample size, but he may be better suited to playing further forward in Bielsa’s system.
If De Bock can prove himself to be versatile, he will stand a greater chance of prolonging his Leeds career and avoiding the same fate as Felix Wiedwald.
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