Jeff Stelling launched a passionate defence of Leeds United on Sky Sports News on Saturday after Kris Boyd said that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are overhyped.
Former Rangers striker Boyd, who works as a pundit for Sky Sports, was on the Soccer Saturday show on Saturday, and he made it clear that he does not think that Leeds are as great as they have been made out to be.
The Whites are playing in the Premier League this season for the first time since 2004 and could end up in the top 10.
Under Bielsa this season, Leeds have scored goals – and have conceded a lot of them – and have been thoroughly entertaining.
Soccer Saturday presenter Stelling could not believe what Boyd was saying, and he responded brilliantly.
As transcribed by The Yorkshire Evening Post, Boyd said: “I might upset a few here – I think Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds, they’ve come up and been wonderful, but I think a lot of it is over-hyped as well.
“When you take into consideration what Leeds are spending, there’s a lot of players probably having their best season ever, which is fantastic, but there’s a lot of things pointing to the fact that they might be overachieving.
“All we hear is that Marcelo Bielsa is this master tactician – Chris Wilder did the exact same last season [with Sheffield United]. When you take into consideration what Leeds are spending, I think they could be doing better.”
Stelling responded: “They’re not spending much. When have they spent big? Raphinha cost £17 million. Some of the sides they’re playing against have spent as much on one player as Leeds United have spent on their entire squad.
“They’ve spent just over £100 million on nine players. They’ve not gone out and bought a £50 million player, have they? What do you expect them to do, not spend any money and go straight back down again?
“You say they might have done even better, but what about when they’ve gone to Leicester and won, when they’ve gone to Aston Villa and won? Haven’t they been brilliant at times?”
True, Leeds signed Diego Llorente, Robin Koch, Rodrigo and Raphinha in the summer of 2020, but Bielsa has not always had them all available this season.
Llorente is only just starting to play regularly after having fitness and injury problems in previous months, while Koch has also been on the sidelines for a long spell.
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