One Liam Cooper and a new Van Dijk - The Square Ball 9/2/22

GROWING PAINS

Written by: David Guile

“Kids grow up so fast,” your auntie used to say to you, pinching your cheeks in an irritating manner. Or maybe that’s just my auntie. Either way, it’s true.

Pascal Struijk is no longer the callow, diffident youngster who joined the Leeds United academy four years ago. He has passed the milestone of fifty senior appearances, a point where we begin to speak less about the potential and more about the actual. Now, he is every inch a Premier League defender and a full international in waiting. In a squad containing three international centre-backs, there is a groundswell of opinion saying he might be the best of the lot.

I could happily devote a thousand words to singing his praises, but that’s not the point of this article. We all know how good Pascal Struijk is. What we’d all like to know is how good he can become.

So many youngsters have emerged from our academy over the years, but so few have gone on to reach their full potential in our colours. Most of the O’Leary kids were gone before they were 24. As Leeds declined and stagnated we all accepted the uncomfortable truth that, once a youngster’s development began outstripping that of the club, they would be spirited away to spend their peak years elsewhere. Now the problem is different. Breaking into the Leeds team and staying there used to be the easy bit.

In these bizarre days when it’s possible to rip a Leeds hamstring in two just by looking at it sternly, it’s difficult to get a sense of who Marcelo Bielsa’s preferred centre-back pairing might be. Choice is a luxury we haven’t had this year. But, in the event of all of our senior defenders being available (stop laughing), Bielsa’s preference seems to be pairing up a right-footer and a left-footer. There would be a straight fight between Robin Koch and Diego Llorente for the right-foot spot, leaving Struijk competing with Liam Cooper for the other. And this is where things get awkward.

Can I stress, the absolute last thing that I want is to find myself at the head of some kind of Cooper hate mob. If you think Leeds United need to get rid of Liam Cooper, we are absolutely not aligned on this, and I suggest you get out of this blog post right now and put your head under a cold shower. Cooper is our captain, and he’s a good one. Notwithstanding the odd mad moment, he has repeatedly proven he is up to the demands of Premier League football.

The question we ought to be asking is whether his presence in the starting eleven is likely to be an obstacle to Struijk’s growth. That’s the thing about promising youngsters, you can’t stockpile them forever. Cody Drameh, a player long regarded as Luke Ayling’s successor, has chosen to pursue first team football in the Championship rather than waiting for his turn to come around. Crysencio Summerville, faced with the thankless task of displacing Raphinha, has been considering his options out loud in Marcelo Bielsa’s office.

This is where we find ourselves in a mildly uncomfortable situation. On one hand we have a beloved club captain, not yet into his twilight years but likely to have reached his peak. On the other we have a young player who doesn’t yet have Cooper’s organisational qualities but looks to have pretty much everything else in abundance.

Cooper said as much to the Yorkshire Evening Post earlier this month. “Pascal has absolutely everything to be one of the best centre-backs out there, he really has. He’s unbelievable on the ball, he’s strong, good in the air. I always knew. We all know now.”

Indeed we do. With Cooper closing on a return from injury, Bielsa has a big decision to make. Struijk’s progress has not gone unnoticed. He has yet to commit his international future to either the Netherlands or Belgium but both have approached him, and big Dutch clubs will be aware of a player many have taken to calling Virgil Van Struijk. If we don’t give him the chance to reach his ceiling, whatever that might be, then someone else surely will.

It goes without saying that Struijk will go down as one of the best bits of business of Victor Orta’s tenure. He joined for next to nothing, and could now command an eight figure fee. But what will his legacy be? A couple of favourable lines in our profit and loss sheet, to make the accountants smile? Or something more?

Cooper’s legacy is secure. He is, and always will be, the captain who led us back to the Premier League, the one who took us home. For that reason his name should always command respect wherever Leeds fans meet. We know the value of honest graft, and are slow to forget those who put their bodies on the line for the club week after week. That’s for lesser fanbases (Arsenal, I’m looking at you).

But the convoy of talent shuttling between the academy and the first team is in danger of becoming a traffic jam. Last summer a new centre-back joined the academy. Tall, commanding, composed and, of course, left-footed, Leo Hjelde has already had a taste of senior football. His former manager, Ross County’s John ‘Yogi’ Hughes, made him a regular first team starter in the SPL when he was just seventeen. “Leo is going to be the next Van Dijk,” said Hughes. “Trust me on that.”

The transition is almost complete for Struijk. He is ready to become the player Ajax never believed he could be. For his development and that of Hjelde, the order needs to shift. Struijk needs to be first choice, if not now then certainly next season.

Where that leaves Cooper, I’m not quite sure. Hopefully he’ll stay, ready to step in when needed, passing on his qualities as a player and a person to the new generation. They could learn a lot from him. But, equally, the new generation need space to grow. And, as your auntie will tell you, they grow up so fast.