Marcelo Bielsa is thrilled about the way Stuart Dallas has stepped up this season, with TEAMtalk claiming that some at Leeds United expected the all-action Irishman to struggle in the Premier League.
It is hard to imagine a more fitting hero.
As Leeds sealed perhaps their most impressive victory of the modern era on Saturday, defeating champions-in-waiting Manchester City on their own soil, with ten men by the way, no one could begrudge Dallas his moment in the sun.
The former Brentford man may be one of the first names on Bielsa’s team-sheet – he’s played in every one of Leeds’ 31 league fixtures – but it is not often that it’s him hogging the headlines.
Yet Dallas’s match-winning brace at the Etihad felt like the crowning moment for a player who, not long ago, was viewed as little more than a run-of-the-mill Championship scrapper.
TEAMtalk claims there were serious doubts about whether the Northern Ireland international could survive in battle against the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
It is safe to assume Dallas, producing 8/10 performances every week in a variety of roles, has dispelled those concerns.
Whether at left-back or in midfield, Dallas is Bielsa’s Mr Reliable; a Swiss Army Knife of a footballer who would make Daniel Day-Lewis look one-dimensional.
TEAMtalk adds that Leeds are now planning to sign a new left-sided defender in the hope that added competition will push 29-year-old Dallas on to even greater heights.
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