Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa has told Leeds Live that he thinks watching Erling Haaland could be very useful for Patrick Bamford.
Bamford had his detractors in the Championship, but made a blistering start to life in the Premier League with eight goals in 12 games.
The 27-year-old has found the net just once in his last four games though, and Leeds will be keen to keep his scoring going rather than have him go through a sticky patch.
Bamford recently admitted that he has been watching Erling Haaland’s game to try and improve his own, having been impressed with the Borussia Dortmund star.
Haaland was of course born in Leeds, as father Alf Inge was playing for the Whites at the time, and that has given the Norwegian a strong connection with Leeds.
The 20-year-old goal machine told Romsdals Budstikke in 2017 that his dream is to win the Premier League title with Leeds one day, though who knows when they will cross paths.
Now, Bielsa has admitted that it was Bamford who brought up the idea of analysing and studying Haaland, though did ask for Bielsa’s input.
The Argentinian feels that Haaland has a rare virtue in his ability to get behind defences, and believes that if Bamford studies that aspect of his game regularly, it can really improve him as a player.
“The initiative (watching Haaland) wasn’t from the technical staff, it was from Patrick,” said Bielsa. “He asked me one time if there was a centre-forward I thought he could look at [to improve his game] and Haaland has a virtue in which he is easily able to be found behind the opponents’ defence.”
“For me, this is a virtue that is difficult to acquire, and it’s something Patrick is progressively improving in this aspect. I thought if you observed what Haaland does, it would be useful for him. Imitation, the copying, is a key element for the improvement of a player,” he added.
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