Ezgjan Alioski has started all 16 Championship games for Leeds United this season.
Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds that he does not quite understand why Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa never drops Ezgjan Alioski, joking that the Macedonian is contractually undroppable.
Not for the first time this season, Alioski had a quiet afternoon on Sunday as Leeds beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 at The DW Stadium to move top of the Championship.
United have played 1,440 minutes of league football this season and the 26-year-old, who has started all 16 of the Whites’ Championship games, has been on the pitch for 1,395 of those minutes.
The former Lugano star, a £3.2 million signing in 2017 [Football League Paper], has been substituted on only two occasions by Bielsa this season, even when it appears as if Alioski is struggling to add much to the team.
And Whelan reckons that Alioski ‘could be terrible for a month’ and still make the Argentine’s first XI every week.
He told BBC Radio Leeds on Sunday: “Alioski never seems to get rested. He could have the worst game in the world; he could be terrible for a month – he’ll still get chosen.
“I think it’s in his contract. Seriously. I think there is something that says he must play. There is something there, I don’t know.”
Bielsa is known to be somewhat unorthodox, but by the same token we must trust his judgement.
After all, there is a reason why Leeds are looking like the best team in the Championship right now and it’s probably because Bielsa – who has managed Athletic Bilbao, Lazio and Argentina – knows what he is doing.
He has scored three and set up three in the Championship for United this season.
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