Stuart Dallas is a big player at Leeds United once again.
Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds that Paul Heckingbottom deserves credit for ushering Leeds United star Stuart Dallas back into the first XI.
The Northern Ireland winger has started all four of Leeds’ Championship games since Heckingbottom took over from Thomas Christiansen earlier this month, and has even impressed as a makeshift right-back.
Prior to Christiansen’s sacking, Dallas hadn’t started a league game for United since way back in October, though he was missing for two months through injury.
Still, the 26-year-old, signed for £1.3 million by Uwe Rosler in 2015, is one of the many Leeds players who look reborn under the former Barnsley manager.
And ex-Whites striker Whelan believes that the Elland Road side had been “crying out for him” in recent weeks and months.
He told BBC Radio Leeds: “I think he’s been waiting for his opportunity and now he’s got it.
“We’ve been crying out for him to start games. He knows what the Championship is all about and he’s got a great work ethic about him up and down the pitch.
“He stepped in when needed at left-back and right-back areas.”
Leeds beat Brentford 1-0 on Saturday for Heckingbottom’s first win in charge of the West Yorkshire side.
In doing so, they remain 11th in the Championship but now sit only five points adrift of the top six, after Bristol City lost at Cardiff on Sunday.
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