Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for Thursday, January 20.
Leo Hjelde training regime revealed
Teenager Leo Hjelde has been catapulted forwards into the consciousness of Leeds United fans in recent weeks after he made his senior debut for the club in the FA Cup, followed by his Premier League debut a week later.
The Norwegian defender played around 70 minutes in each, the first one as a starter and the Premier League game being as a first-half substitute for the injured Junior Firpo. Whilst both appearances came against West Ham United, interestingly they came in different positions.
In the FA Cup match, Hjelde lined up as the left sided centre back, doing an excellent job marking Michail Antonio. However, when Firpo left the field injured last weekend, he came on cover at left back, again performing admirably. He marshalled Jarrod Bowen well and played positively with the ball.
Now it has been revealed that Hjelde hasn't just been training as a centre back and a left back, the positions he played at Ross County when he was on loan from Celtic. The Athletic's Adam Crafton mentioned that the defender has also been training in a third position, as Marcelo Bielsa appreciates versatility so much:
"Leo Hjelde played at left-back, but over the past few weeks in training, Bielsa has had him training at left-back, centre-back in the left position and in holding midfield," Crafton told BBC Five Live Football Daily.
"He does this in a lot of training drills, putting people in positions that are designed to challenge them, he did it with Ben White, who’s now at Arsenal, when he was there in loan he’d put him in holding midfield quite a lot just in case there were moments in games where they had to think for themselves a little bit more."
Beren Cross Q&A
Leeds United club writer, Beren Cross has been taking questions from Leeds Live readers, including a variety of topics.
Of course, Leeds' bid for Brenden Aaronson is one of the hot topics. Asked how high the Whites might bid for the US international, Cross said:
"If you like the player it's always worth persisting with in order to have a few bites of the cherry. Leeds have liked Aaronson for some time and will stick at it until they don't think it's worth spending more time on it.
"I couldn't say where their highest bid would be, but they will not spend over the odds on him. They like Aaronson and know what he should be worth in the market.
"If [Red Bull] Salzburg don't want to negotiate at that level, then he's their player and they don't have to come to the negotiating table anymore."
Read the Q&A in full HERE.
Raphinha update
Whilst rumours around the future of Leeds' star winger, Raphinha will continue to swirl, the club are confident of signing him to a new contract at the club.
Head coach Marcelo Bielsa has admitted the Brazil international is peerless on his roster and playing at such a high level the Whites know the richest clubs are tracking him.
It's understood contract talks between the 25-year-old’s agent Deco and director of football Victor Orta have been ongoing for several weeks.
There is confidence on all sides a deal which reflects Raphinha’s Premier League and international status can be reached in the near future.
Read the full story HERE.
