Leeds send further statement as Roberts, Costa and Clarke await start

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Leeds United have made an outstanding start to the new Championship season.

Leeds have taken little time to establish themselves as the team to beat in the Championship promotion race again this season, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side top of the table and perhaps playing even better football than they produced 12 months ago.

Kemar Roofe and Pontus Jansson may have moved on, but new key men have emerged with Patrick Bamford scoring four times already and Ben White looking like he could become one of the club’s best loan signings for a very long time.

What has not changed is Marcelo Bielsa’s desire to remain loyal to the players who have a place in the starting lineup. He is yet to drop a player this term, and the only changes have come about due to injury.

And that consistency has arguably allowed Leeds to send out a further statement to their Championship rivals as, remarkably, Bielsa has a potential front four all awaiting their first league start of the season that most in the second tier would happily build their side around.

The names Helder Costa, Jack Clarke, Tyler Roberts and Eddie Nketiah are yet to appear in a starting lineup ahead of a Championship game this term – and that should frighten a lot of the sides hoping to see Leeds stay within reach this season.

Costa is pushing for a starting spot as he continues to impress off the bench, while Nketiah introduced himself in some style with two goals in his first two appearances for the Whites.

Meanwhile, Clarke has already shown that he is a potential game-changer at Championship level and has only recently completed a £10 million move to Tottenham (fee reported by The Telegraph).

Roberts – who has been injured since the final weeks of last season – scored three times and contributed five assists in his first full year, and appeared to be getting better as the campaign went on. His return to the side is going to provide a major boost to Bielsa’s ranks.

And yet, it is difficult to see when each member of the quartet is going to get the chance to notch up that first league start.

Bielsa is working with a small squad once again this season. But when there are players such as Nketiah, Costa, Clarke and Roberts to come in at some stage, it has become much more difficult to imagine what is going to stop Leeds going one better than last year.