With long black hair scrunched up into a bun, towering height and a Dutch passport, Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk has quite a lot in common with Virgil van Dijk, not to mention the fact that he looks to be a brilliant centre-back too.
The 21-year-old had the game of his burgeoning career this afternoon as Leeds drew 0-0 with the old enemy Manchester United at Elland Road.
Struijk, a Netherlands U17 international, coasted through the game with a Van Dijk-like composure and dominance, despite coming up against the likes of Marcus Rashford and later Edinson Cavani.
But even some Red Devils supporters put the rivalry aside and acknowledged that Leeds look to have a gem in the big man, who stands at 6’3.
Here’s how some of them reacted to his performance on social media:
Struijk has pretty much come from nowhere over the past 12 months.
He wasn’t a core member of the Leeds squad that won promotion to the Premier League last season, having only made five Championship appearances – the last three of which didn’t come until Project Restart.
But Marcelo Bielsa demonstrated his trust in him by starting Struijk in the 4-3 defeat at Liverpool on the first day of the season and from there, he has only gotten better – and going by today’s performance, there’s so much more improvement to come.
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