Ask any Leeds United fan and they’ll tell you that Pascal Struijk is one of their most exciting young players.
The towering Dutchman has steadily become a huge player for Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
Last season, in particular, he showed real promise as a centre-back and the Virgil van Dijk comparisons are beyond just the physical qualities Struijk boasts.
But it’s fair to say that a lot of Leeds supporters weren’t too impressed when the 22-year-old moved to Elland Road originally.
United snapped up the former Ajax youth as an 18-year-old in the winter of 2018.
He arrived even six months before Bielsa, when Victor Orta was snapping up every Under-23 footballer that he could get his hands on.
Leeds – then under Thomas Christiansen – had just lost 4-3 at home to Millwall to find themselves 10th in the Championship at the time of Struijk’s arrival, so the supporters were already upset by results and the addition of the big man didn’t do much for their outlook.
Here’s how some fans reacted at the time.
It would be easy to mock the supporters as nay-sayers.
But it’s worth pointing out that the summer prior to Struijk being signed, Orta quite literally did bring well over a dozen players in for the Under-23 squad and none of them looked like pulling up any trees – and none of them have.
So for Leeds fans to feel pessimistic over the signing of an 18-year-old from Ajax’s academy is perfectly understandable.
But on this occasion, Orta was bang on the money and although Bielsa’s side are struggling to some extent this season, it’s still very exciting to see how Struijk develops because realistically, he’s going to get a lot better.
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