Whelan: My ‘biggest fears’ have come true after Bamford update from Leeds
Noel Whelan has admitted one of his “biggest fears” has come true with Patrick Bamford ruled out for Leeds United against Wolves.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Leeds striker admitted Rodrigo has struggled to fill the boots of the 28-year-old in his absence.
As confirmed by Marcelo Bielsa on Thursday (21st October), Bamford will sit out against both Wolves and Arsenal with his ongoing ankle injury.
The striker has not featured since the 1-1 draw with Newcastle back in mid-September.
Wolves will be the fifth game he sits out, having missed four league games and the League Cup win over Fulham.
Rodrigo has led the line in Bamford’s absence but struggled to put opposition defences to the sword.
Whelan revealed he always worried about Bamford being ruled out for Leeds.
He admitted his worst fears had come to fruition in recent weeks.
Whelan told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “It was one of my biggest fears. How can we live life without Patrick playing from when he’s the one player that really strings everything together up front?
“He runs in behind, he runs the channels, takes centre-halves out of positions. His energy, his work right across the backline in the opposition’s defence.
“There’s not a player like him at the club. That was my worry, if anything did happen, which it has done now. We have seen that difficult side of the game going forward.
“We’ve got a player that is completely the opposite to Patrick. Rodrigo likes to come into play, rather than stretch the game.
“He’s a striker that is really struggling on confidence at the minute. He desperately needs a goal, Rodrigo, because we know that strikers work on confidence.
“At the minute he looks a player who’s desperately trying to find it. So he really needs a goal to quickly to get his season up and running.
“That is how strikers work. You need a goal under the belt, it doesn’t matter it comes. Off his knee, off his ankle, a deflection.
“He desperately needs to get on the scoresheet to find that confident Rodrigo that we need playing up if Patrick’s out.”
In other news, pundit backs Leeds United to sign proven Premier League star to rival Rodrigo in January.