Leeds United hero advises pair to seek gametime away from Elland Road after promotion
A pair of Leeds United squad players have been advised to go and get game time elsewhere to aid their development, by a former Elland Road Premier League hero.
Stuart Dallas played a starring role as Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites won the Championship title and then took the Premier League by storm. Dallas walked away with a number of individual awards at the end of his first season in the top flight as Leeds finished ninth. Prior to his injury-enforced retirement, Dallas played 72 times in the Premier League for Leeds, scoring nine goals including an unforgettable late winner at the Etihad against Manchester City.
Addressing the squad who last season emulated the 2020 title win and promotion, Dallas has advised them to try and enjoy it even if the step up has become even bigger and more daunting in the last few years. “History would suggest that it is harder because teams that are coming up now are obviously struggling,” he told the YEP, speaking at Leeds American Golf for the #RifeDontMiss putting challenge.
Elland Road atmosphere
“When we went up, we didn’t have a crowd behind us so I think the players will obviously benefit from that next season, having a packed Elland Road driving them on. The gap is huge so it is really difficult for newly promoted teams to try and bridge that gap, but fully believe in the club and the recruitment that they’ll do in the summer, they’re very shrewd operators in charge of the club and I fully expect them to give it a good go next year.
“When we made the step up, we were just a normal group of lads that had achieved something special. Just enjoy it. The thing with the Premier League is that everything around it is a big spectacle and because there is such a spotlight on everything, you’ve just got to try and blank that out and play your normal game. But just enjoy it. It’s another step up so you’ve got to do everything right in terms of your recovery, how you go about things, but they know that – they’re professional players, and they’ll be okay.”
Dallas expects summer transfer additions in a number of positions as Leeds attempt to give Daniel Farke a squad capable of finishing 17th or above in order to buck the recent trend of newly promoted teams coming straight back down. But he also sees a need for a pair of individuals to focus not on the exciting new era at Elland Road but on their own gametime and where that might come.
Joseph and Schmidt loan exits?
Mateo Joseph, 21, played 39 times in the Championship last season but only 11 of those occasions brought a starting place. He was the starting number 9 for the first eight games of the league campaign and then lost his place to Joel Piroe through a lack of goals and a visible dwindling of his confidence. The season played out very differently to how many expected it would for the Spanish youngster, who returned for pre-season full of belief and initially hit the ground running. His nearly-1,300 minutes of league action resulted in just three goals and three assists. Dallas believes Joseph, along with Isaac Schmidt who barely featured other than in a number of late cameos and yet made his breakthrough at senior international level with Switzerland, need to be starting games regularly.
“For sure, they need to be playing football at the ages that they are,” said the former Northern Ireland international. “Mateo Joseph, everybody expected him to have a decent season this year and there’s a lot of quality there, but it hasn’t quite worked out. For me he needs to go somewhere and get game time, but I think the Premier League is a whole different ballgame. For me, he’s one that probably needs to go and play.
“Isaac Schmidt is one that has come in and not played a lot of football. Believe it or not, I was at the game when Northern Ireland played Switzerland, and for somebody who hadn’t played a lot of football, he was brilliant. He’s done alright since he’s come in but again he’s someone that wants to be playing. Do you wanna be sitting on the bench in the Premier League, or do you want to be bettering your career?”
Dallas was speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Evening Post at the second #RifeDontMiss Challenge, celebrating the launch of the new RIFE Black Edition putters. To register for the final qualifier and be in with a chance of winning £50,000, sign up here.