Championship title-favourites Leeds United reportedly want to sign George Stanger from Hamilton Academical.
There is more to George Stanger than meets the eye. And that may be why Leeds United like him.
According to the Evening Times in August, Hamilton Academical are at risk of losing one of their most exciting young talents of recent years with Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds taking a shine to a 19-year-old from New Zealand.
Stanger is a centre-half by trade and, given that he has attracted interest from the giants of West Yorkshire, it is no real surprise that he understands the need for defenders to have technical and physical gifts.
“Always, always, always make sure you defend first,” the 20-year-old told the Times when asked to define his approach to the game back in April. “But for the modern centre-back, it’s crucial to be able to play out from the back, to have the ability and passing range to do that.”
In a Bielsa team, being able to pass the ball accurately over long or short range is not just ‘crucial’ – it’s pretty much non-negotiable.
This most eccentric of managerial doyens also loves players who can adapt to a variety of roles all over the pitch, hence the importance of the versatile Gianni Alioski, Stuart Dallas and Kalvin Phillips at Elland Road.
Leeds are a little-short of depth at left-back too with the injury-prone Barry Douglas the only experienced and fully-fledged left-back at Bielsa’s disposal. Leif Davis is promising but young and while Alioski and Dallas can fill in, they are stop-gaps at best.
So Bielsa will no doubt have been impressed by the fact that Stanger made his league debut for Hamilton in an unfamiliar left-back role, albeit thanks to a defensive injury crisis. The teenager held is own too in testing circumstances, even if The Accies were beaten 3-1 on their own turf by Motherwell.
Stanger has since moved on loan to East Kilbride until January; a move which guarantees regular first-team football for the next few months at least.
Versatile and aware of the demands on a modern defender; Stanger is certainly in good stead if Leeds step up their interest in the new year.
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