Leeds United’s pre-season will be helped by the return to fitness of Pascal Struijk, who was a significant miss in the second half of the season despite Ethan Ampadu taking over as captain.
Leeds’ defensive brilliance in the 23/24 Championship season was what helped them finish third and get so close to promotion, and while their run of shutouts in 2024 helped, Pascal Struijk’s influence cannot be overstated.
The 24-year-old defender was crucial to the team before to his hip injury, which necessitated season-ending surgery in March.
Leeds would require a “crazy fee” to let Struijk leave this summer.
The Athletic have reviewed Leeds’ current most valuable assets to see which are likely to leave the club and help balance our PSR issues.
Struijk is among those mentioned, as the possibility of losing the Dutch defender is addressed, but it is evident that he will not be permitted to leave, even if he wanted to.
Nancy Froston wrote:
“A player Farke has described as a “cornerstone of our future” and already so significant to the current team, only a crazy fee would make up for the loss of what he offers on the pitch.”
What has Farke already said about Struijk?
Farke has previously emphasized Struijk’s importance to the team while the defender was away last season.
The manager stated this about him (via the YEP):
“It feels odd that we didn’t talk about him in the last two months, but thank God we didn’t have to since our defensive behavior was right on.
“He’s a cornerstone for our future.”
Struijk will be crucial to Leeds next season, plain and simple.
As much as Ampadu was a rock in the back beside Joe Rodon when Struijk was out, we missed having him in the middle of our back four.
Struijk was and continues to be our best centre-back, and having him at the heart of our defence next season will be critical to our promotion chances.
Not only is he a top defender at this level, but his ball movement is superior to everyone else we have, allowing Ampadu to play in midfield for the remainder of the season.
