Javi Gracia is under no illusions about how important Rodrigo can be for Leeds United over the final two months of the Premier League season. The striker missed the Spaniard’s first two games in charge of the Whites after undergoing surgery on the ankle injury he picked up while playing against Accrington Stanley.
However, after six weeks or so on the sidelines, Rodrigo was considered fit enough to come off the bench to make an appearance against Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month. He repeated the feat at Wolves on Saturday, emerging into the fray as a substitute before going to add to his goal tally to make sure of three huge points.
Rodrigo’s impact was limited as Leeds found themselves on the back foot late in the game, but he was there when his team needed him to score the Whites’ fourth in added time. The striker has developed a knack of popping up to bag the important goals this season and his effort at Molineux was his 13th in all competitions.
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The Spain international is still building up his fitness following his spell in the treatment room, of course, and Gracia has been right to treat his return with a degree of caution. However, the head coach will be working closely with him over the international break at Thorp Arch in the hope he can start to fire on all cylinders once more throughout April and May.
"Rodrigo has always been a key player for this club and I think he will be in the future as well,” Gracia said after picking up his second win in charge of the Whites. “Now we are trying to recover his best condition because he needed to work today, play only a part of the last game as well.
“Fifty minutes no more, then 50 minutes and day by day I think he's going to improve and but you can see the quality in playing. Even playing 30 minutes.
“We need to work with him, it is one of the targets we have for the next two weeks. I cannot tell you if for the next game he will be ready to complete 90 minutes but for sure he's going to improve."
Saturday’s win was enough to see Leeds move out of the relegation zone and up to 14th in the league table, but they remain just two points above the bottom three as they head into their final 11 games. Gracia knows Leeds need to make a habit of picking up points in what is undoubtedly a challenging run-in, starting at league leaders Arsenal next week.
But, if Rodrigo can rediscover the type of goalscoring form he showed before the World Cup break earlier this season, Gracia will certainly fancy his chances of keeping Leeds in the top flight.
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