Helder Costa was Leeds United’s marquee addition this summer, with the Whites reportedly set to pay £15 million for the forward next summer.
Despite his heroics at the weekend, Leeds were reminded in the recent win over Brentford that they will one day have to work out how they are going to move on once Pablo Hernandez brings the curtain down on his Elland Road career.
Hernandez is now in his fourth season with United and has been the club’s talisman for at least two years. He looks to have seized that role once again this term, sparking Leeds’ campaign into life with an opening day masterclass at Bristol City.
And the Spaniard left supporters stunned on at least two occasions in the weekend win at Stoke. The first came when he produced the most outrageous assist for Stuart Dallas’ opener, while the second came with an even more ridiculous pass from the halfway line that found Gjanni Alioski in the build-up to the third goal.
The 34-year-old is arguably as good and as influential as he has ever been. But there is no doubt that he endured an off night when Brentford came to Elland Road last week.
Leeds would have looked to Hernandez to produce the moment of magic that would decide what always looked set to be an agonisingly tight game. But he had no tricks up his sleeve and it is perhaps fair to say that there was little disappointment when Marcelo Bielsa replaced him with Eddie Nketiah – though, that is also largely down to the man coming on.
It was not to be Hernandez’s night, but Leeds would secure the victory and the moment of magic that most weeks would come from Hernandez was produced by Helder Costa as he came off the bench to set up Nketiah for the late winner.
It was a moment of class from Costa, who showed the composure to time his pass into Nketiah absolutely perfectly. And it hints that Leeds may have made an inspired move if they are looking at the summer signing as the man to take some pressure off Hernandez’s shoulders.
It is not difficult to see why some may wonder whether Costa is the man that Leeds expect to succeed Hernandez as the club’s talisman. They are both exciting and creative players capable of producing moments on the pitch that leave others bewildered and amazed in equal measure.
Leeds agreeing to pay £15 million next summer to make Costa’s move permanent (via Daily Mirror) also provides an indication of how influential the Championship leaders expect the Portuguese to become in the coming years.
While Leeds have not paid that money for Costa just yet, there is still a lot of pressure on the attacker. But when the pressure was on and Leeds needed something to happen against Brentford, the 25-year-old stepped up.
The Elland Road faithful will not want to think about the day that Hernandez calls time on his Leeds career. But Costa stepping up when Leeds needed him arguably bodes well for when the magician does step aside.
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