Leeds ace has missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime, and Bielsa may be to blame – Our View

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Leeds United fans all over the country were up in arms after Patrick Bamford wasn’t named in the provisional England squad, but one international snub that has flown under the radar was Rodrigo being left out of the Spain squad.

The Leeds ace has been a regular in the Spain set up for the past few years, acting as their first-choice number nine since mid-2017.

However, Rodrigo didn’t make Luis Enrique’s last squad back in March and now he’s been left out of the Euros squad, and we can’t help but feel that Marcelo Bielsa is at least partially at fault for this.

Rodrigo, in Spain’s system, is your traditional number nine, spearheading the attack and acting as one of the sides’ main goalscoring threats. However, at Leeds United this season he’s been played in a deeper role more often than not.

Indeed, Rodrigo has only played as a centre-forward on eight occasions this term for Leeds.

Consequently, Rodrigo has missed out on what could be his only chance to play at a European Championships. After all, he’ll be 33 by the time the next tournament comes around, past what is traditionally thought to be a striker’s ‘peak’.

To be honest, we can understand why Rodrigo hasn’t been picked by Spain as a striking option. It would be silly for any international manager to pick a player for a position that they’ve barely played in all year.

Sadly, we can’t help but place a little bit of the blame on Bielsa’s shoulders for this. Rodrigo had made every single Spain squad since June 2017 until he joined Leeds, but a change in role has seen him drop out of their plans completely.

Was Bielsa wrong to change Rodrigo’s position? No, of course he wasn’t, Bielsa’s number one priority is Leeds United’s success, not Rodrigo’s international career.

However, this European Championships represented the opportunity of a lifetime for Rodrigo and he’s now missed out on what could be his only chance to play at this competition, and you have to feel that Bielsa is partially to blame for that.