Jesse Marsch boosts Leeds United man's Qatar chances with surprise 'best in the world' claim - YEP 27/8/22

Jesse Marsch is delighted for Spanish forward Rodrigo after his goalscoring start to the Premier League season with Leeds United

By Joe Donnohue

Jesse Marsch’s insistence that Rodrigo Moreno can yet become one of the world’s best at 31 years of age may come as a surprise to some, but the head coach is adamant.

Marsch believes the Spaniard is the full package, after the World Cup hopeful scored four goals in the opening three matches of this year’s Premier League season.

The American also says he wishes he had met Rodrigo when the Brazil-born forward was 18 as he thinks there is room for improvement in his game, despite his advancing years.

A long-running theme of this summer’s transfer window has been Leeds United’s inability to snare a marquee centre-forward to supplement the team’s current striking options.

With Patrick Bamford’s fitness remaining a concern, Joe Gelhardt suffering occasional niggles of his own and Rodrigo’s form in front of goal over the past two seasons, United were perceived to be light in attack heading into the new campaign.

But, after three games it is Rodrigo out in front atop the Premier League goalscoring charts with strikes against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton and Chelsea.

Questioned on the prospect of adding another forward, Marsch admitted he would like to sign a new striker but that the specific set of parameters Leeds are working within – both self-imposed restrictions and financial – may not allow it.

Rodrigo’s form has offered chairman Andrea Radrizzani a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card if the club do not bring in another attacker before the window closes next week, after missing out on primary target Charles de Ketelaere from Club Brugge.

"I think Rodrigo deserves all the credit, right? I don't want to take any credit. I'm just trying to do my job to maximise him,” Marsch said in his Thursday press conference.

"You can see a player that's fully understood exactly what we're trying to get out of them. And his hunger to score goals, his hunger to run in the box, his hunger to be in dangerous places, his hunger to want the ball in dangerous spots, to insert himself in the game, has been phenomenal.

"I said to him at one point, I wish I would have met him when he was 18 because I think he still has a lot of room for development. It's not like at 31 he's done developing. And that's why I think we've seen that in the last six months.

“He's got every physical, technical, tactical quality that he needs to be one of the best players in the world. He's fast, he's strong, he's clever. He's good with both feet. He's a finisher, he's good with his head. So I still think as good as he's playing we can continue to push him to be even better,” Marsch added on the accidental solution to his striker problem.

As the club’s record signing two summers ago, Rodrigo has occasionally endured a rough ride from supporters who perceived the £27 million arrival of Spain’s No. 9 to be the Premier League calibre, 15-goal-a-season forward they were crying out for.

The reality has been somewhat different with the ex-Valencia man often deployed in central midfield by Marcelo Bielsa – a fit which showed intermittent flashes of his top-line ability, but so frequently disappointed.

This year, with Bamford only just stepping gingerly back onto the breakneck Premier League treadmill, Rodrigo has been flying at full speed.

"Fans should be loving him,” Marsch said. “I'm just really happy for him. I had heard that it was a struggle for him. Even last year when I was here, he had ups and downs and tough moments. We had a lot of really good conversations. We looked at a lot of video together. I've asked him a lot what he thinks, I've engaged him as a leader, he's been fantastic in that way.”

The team really looks to him and that's one of the things I've said to him, he has a big effect on everyone in the team. And so his work ethic, his commitment has meant that when your best players have that kind of mentality again, there's no room for anyone else. And he's been rewarded by it,” the head coach added.

Rodrigo’s best form could hardly have coincided with a better time as a winter World Cup begins to come into view.

His greatest reward could yet come in the form of a recall to Luis Enrique’s Spain squad which will head to Qatar in three short months.

After missing out on EURO 2020 altogether last summer, and playing a mere 23 minutes across three matches as Spain were dumped out of the World Cup by Russia four years ago, Rodrigo would go some way to making good on Marsch’s ‘best in the world’ claim by continuing in his current vein throughout 2022.