Mills verdict on Cresswell starting for Leeds v Chelsea after early team news
Danny Mills has suggested Pascal Struijk and Diego Llorente will start in the heart of the Leeds United defence on Saturday against Chelsea.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Whites and England defender delivered his verdict after Liam Cooper and Robin Koch were ruled out of the trip to the European Champions.
Leeds confirmed in a club statement on Thursday (9 December) Cooper picked up a hamstring injury in the 2-2 draw with Brentford last weekend (5 December).
Koch has been absent since the 5-1 defeat to Man United on the opening day of the season and while he is now fit, the statement confirmed he has been ill for the last 10 days.
That leaves Marcelo Bielsa with Charlie Cresswell, Struijk and Llorente as his available options for the visit to Chelsea.
“Bielsa hasn’t really given Cresswell a chance,” Mills told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“There was the West Ham game but there have been other opportunities where you think ‘He might get a game or a little bit of a run in the team’, he hasn’t given him that opportunity.
“I just wonder if he might not play Charlie Cresswell and bring Struijk back into that centre-half position. Someone tried and trusted.”
Cresswell, 19, has played four times across all competitions but has managed just one Premier League start.
That came in the 2-1 loss to West Ham back in September when he partnered Cresswell with Struijk, Llorente and Koch all out of the matchday squad through either suspension or injury.
In other news, a senior Leeds United man could quit at the end of the season after a source’s reveal.