Speaking on the BBC Radio Five Live Football Daily Podcast, Adam Crafton has shared a bit of insight into Leeds training and Leo Hjelde’s recent regime.
The 18-year-old made his Premier League debut over the weekend, and in the build-up to this moment, Bielsa did something rather interesting with the Norwegian in training.
Indeed, while Hjelde came on at left-back, Bielsa has had him training to play at full-back, centre-half and as a holding midfielder.
What’s been said about Hjelde?
Crafton shared a bit of insight into Hjelde’s training plan.
“Just to give an example, Leo Hjelde played at left-back, but over the past few weeks in training, Bielsa has had him training at left-back, centre-back in the left position and in holding midfield. He does this in a lot of training drills, putting people in positions that are designed to challenge them, he did it with Ben White, who’s now at Arsenal, when he was there in loan he’d put him in holding midfield quite a lot just in case there were moments in games where they had to think for themselves a little bit more,” Crafton said.
Versatile
Bielsa seems to be training a level of versatility into this young man, and that’s very exciting.
Hjelde seems to be a young player with an incredibly high ceiling. He’s been compared to Virgil van Dijk in the past, and if he can add versatility to that talent, then he’ll be an incredibly valuable player in years to come.
Hjelde is naturally a centre-half, but he did a fine job at left-back over the weekend, and it sounds as though we may see him in the midfield in the future.
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