Patrick Bamford’s hat-trick and return to fitness could have negative implications for Tyler Roberts at Leeds United.
Tyler Roberts could be forgiven if he didn’t celebrate a hat-trick scored by Leeds United team-mate Patrick Bamford today.
Bamford grabbed a brilliant treble for Leeds’ Under-23 side, who beat Burnley 6-3.
It was his first start for the Whites at any level since September following an injury-ravaged few months.
But Bamford’s heroics for the youth side indicate that he might be ready for Championship games again, and that’s potentially bad news for Roberts.
The 19-year-old, a £4 million signing last January [Daily Mail], has been stuck behind Kemar Roofe in Marcelo Bielsa’s pecking order for much of the season, but Bamford’s return will almost certainly push him out of the squad entirely and today’s hat-trick only accelerates that.
The Wales international hasn’t played for United in just about a month anyway but it seems plausible that he’ll be waiting a lot longer for another game as a result of his team-mate’s goals.
Roberts remains a huge talent but, with January around the corner, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if other clubs enquired about signing him on loan for the second half of the campaign.
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