The Leeds United star has failed to start a league game since October.
Marcelo Bielsa has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that Samu Saiz is Leeds United’s most skilled player.
That is despite having failed to start the Spanish playmaker in any of the Whites’ last four Championship fixtures – and left him on the bench for one.
Saiz has still managed to show his class in that time, however, setting up goals in each of his last two cameo appearances – against Bristol City ans West Bromwich Albion.
And Bielsa insisted that even as a substitute, Saiz remains an important part of his Leeds side.
“I think Saiz is the most skilled player of our team and he has skills that few players have,” he said. “I am not talking about only our team but football in general. And then you have a trend which is linked to the performance and it is also linked to the performance of the team mates.
“We always think that being a sub is not a good thing for the players. It’s a mistake to think like that. Because reality tells us and Samu is very useful to our team.
“Either he plays 20 minutes, half an hour or the whole game. I have the obligation to take into account the whole team.
“And of course it’s hard for each player not to think about their own interests so you have to find the right balance in all this and draw the right conclusions.”
Asked whether Saiz has responded positively to losing his place, Bielsa replied: “Yes – and I’m honest when I say yes. If it was not the case I would not say it publicly, but in this case he has.”
Saiz has no shortage of rivals for his place, and may have to fight even harder in the coming weeks as Izzy Brown steps up his return to full fitness.
The summer signing from Chelsea has failed to appear at first team level since he damaged cruciate ligaments while on loan to Brighton in January, but got 45 minutes under his belt for Leeds’ Under-23s earlier this month.
Should Leeds give Saiz his place back?
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