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‘When it comes to the summer’ – Phil Hay hints at change in senior Leeds United man’s future prospects

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Tyler Roberts may yet have a future at Leeds United beyond the end of the current season.

That’s according to The Athletic’s Phil Hay, who believes that the attacker’s recent performances may have played him into the thinking of manager Marcelo Bielsa as he begins to plan for the 2021/22 campaign.

Following Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League at the end of last season, it had been something of a challenging start to the campaign for Roberts.

With the attacker starting just two league games before February this season, and seemingly struggling when he did get on the pitch, Hay had previously suggested that Roberts could be one of those moved on in the summer, as Leeds look to shape their squad into one that can push further up the table.

However, Roberts has now started each of Leeds’ last five league games, and after some encouraging performances, it seems Hay believes that the attacker’s future at Elland Road might not be looking quite so bleak anymore.

Speaking about the performances of the 22-year-old in Saturday’s goalless draw with Chelsea on The Phil Hay Show for The Athletic, Hay said: “It was a better performance from him and more performances like that are going to put him in [Marcelo] Bielsa’s or Leeds’ mind when it comes to the summer and they think about how to redraw the squad again.”

Indeed, it seems Hay believes that Roberts was even able to make a bigger impact than one of Leeds’ high profile signings from last summer, as he went on to add“You would have to say, out of the two players floating around in that area – him and Rodrigo – it was Roberts who was the more impressive.”

Since joining Leeds from West Brom back in January 2018, Roberts has scored seven goals in 72 appearances in all competitions for the Yorkshire club.

As things stand, there is just over a year remaining on Roberts’ contract with Leeds, securing his future at Elland Road until the end of next season.

This is certainly an interesting one for those associated with Leeds United to consider.

With his recent run in the side, it does seem as though Roberts is being given the chance to earn himself the chance of an extended stay with the club at Premier League level.

Performances such as the one he produced against Chelsea at the weekend are unlikely to do his case any harm, although you imagine he is going to have to prove he can can do that on a consistent basis if he is going to be part of a squad that can progress up the Premier League standings in years to come.

As a result, I get the feeling that the future of Roberts himself, is something that may not be definitively decided for some time yet.

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UCLan Sports Journalism graduate. Have been working for Leeds All Over since summer 2020, and can only be found writing on Football League World.