One frustrating thing about having Marcelo Bielsa as your manager is how long it takes new players to bed into the squad.
Jean-Kevin Augustin is a prime example, failing to start a game since his arrival, and being underwhelming when he has played.
Jack Harrison was quite poor during his first season at Leeds, and fans even stated they wouldn’t want him back for a second season, but this year he’s been one of United’s better players, contributing to the second-highest number of goals in the squad.
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Harrison’s marked improvement in his second season is remarkable, and it may mean that there’s still hope for Helder Costa’s Leeds career once he joins permanently.
Earlier this week a Yorkshire Evening Post journalist stated that Costa reminds him of someone in the Leeds squad:
“He almost reminds me a little bit of Harrison last year and the way that Bielsa stuck by him and that he’s now reaping the rewards of having Harrison for two years,” Joe Urquhart said (Inside Elland Road 17/2/20 26:40)
“The way people are getting on his back, obviously it’s difficult when you come with a big price tag, but the longer he spends in this team the more he’s going to develop.”
It’s certainly an interesting school of thought, and a look at the stats shows that Harrison’s 2018/19 isn’t too dissimilar from what we’ve seen from Costa this season.
The minutes per goal ratios are very similar, with only 48 minutes separating the pair, and while the minutes per assist records are wildly different, their key passes per game stats are very similar.
Perhaps the decline in assists could be explained by the departure of Kemar Roofe and the diminishing goalscoring returns from the likes of Mateusz Klich and Pablo Hernandez who both hit double figures last term but are faltering this season, netting just seven between them.
Costa actually has more shots per game than Harrison did last term, so he’s getting into those positions, and his WhoScored average rating is marginally higher than the Man City loanee.
It remains to be seen whether or not Costa can go through a Harrison-esque metamorphosis heading into next season, but if he can then United will have two strong players on either wing.
Costa has shown he can produce the goods in the past, he contributed to 18 goals in the 2016/17 season for Wolves, and if he can improve like his left-sided counterpart did last year, then he could replicate that type of form.
In other news, Adam Forshaw has posted an encouraging update on his injury.
