Eunan O’Kane praises Kalvin Phillips and Ronaldo Vieira for their willingness to learn

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The Leeds United midfielder is pleased with his young team-mates.

Derby’s Jacob Butterfield in action with Leeds’ Hunan O’Kane

Leeds United midfielder Eunan O’Kane has been speaking about the talented midfield pair of Kalvin Phillips and Ronaldo Vieira.

The Irish international was a late signing for Leeds, arriving on transfer deadline day.

His signing was a surprise for many, who felt Leeds already have plenty of central midfield options. However, club captain Liam Bridcutt then suffered an ankle injury and O’Kane has proved pivotal ever since.

Blackburn’s Martin Samuelsen and Leeds’ Eunan O’Kane in action

Recently his midfield partner has been 20-year-old Phillips. He has been excellent in the Leeds midfield recently whilst fellow young talent Vieira, just 18-years-old, has also impressed at times this season.

O’Kane spoke about the pair to TV Yorkshire this week. He suggested the duo are always willing to learn from him and improve their respective games:

“At times he needs a little arm around him, him and Ronny. There’s times when they make decisions and you think maybe that wasn’t the best decision for them.

Blackburn’s Hope Akpan and Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips in action

“But in fairness to the both of them they’ve been willing to learn. There’s been times after games when I’ve gone and said ‘you see this instance, maybe not the next time.’

“In fairness to them they’ve taken it on board and I don’t think you can point the finger at either of them for making a mistake or a bad decision that has ended up with us losing points.

“When you’ve got people who are willing to learn, no matter what age they are, whether they’re 33, 34 or 18 it’s good to have them around and when that’s the attitude it can only improve the club as a whole.”

Nottingham Forests’ Apostolos Vellios in action with Leeds United’s Ronaldo Vieira

Leeds fans have high hopes for the talented midfield pair – who are keeping experienced heads such as Toumani Diagouraga and Luke Murphy firmly out of the first-team picture at Elland Road.

Their energy in the middle of the park is exactly what Leeds boss Garry Monk asks for in his style of play and hopefully they can continue to learn from their experienced team-mates.