Left-back was one of the problematic areas for Leeds United last season, and they turned that weakness into a strength this season as they made a smart signing by bringing in Barry Douglas who did exceedingly well in Wolves’ title run in the Championship last season. However, young Tom Pearce has been waiting in the wings to get his chances in that role, and after the previous game, the youngster should be a bit concerned as Marcelo Bielsa preferred versatile midfielder Stuart Dallas and Ezgjan Alioski for that left back role when Douglas missed out due to injury.
Pearce’s contract was set to expire in July, but United decided to offer him a new deal when clubs like Everton and Bournemouth showed an interest in him in the summer. The youngster broke through last season under Paul Heckingbottom and put in some good performance in the latter half of the season when United were struggling with their left-back options.
Laurens De Bock was signed in January from Club Brugge but in a few outings, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to cut the mustard in the Championship and therefore then manager Heckingbottom had to look at the academy, and he promoted Pearce to the senior team who took on the challenges well last season.
The 20-year old is contracted to stay until 2022, but it seems unlikely now that Pearce would be able to break into the first team. Gaetano Berardi has also shown in the past that he can handle himself in left-back role and Bielsa preferring Dallas and Alioski in that role for now certainly showcases that the former Argentina manager doesn’t rate the Englishman highly.
For Bielsa, the wide men and especially fullbacks are an important position in his system as they are continually pushing forward at every opportunity. The manager has given such freedom to his full backs that when United attack from one flank, the other fullback from another flank waits in the box for the cross to come. Maybe because Pearce doesn’t have that attacking edge to his game, he has not been preferred by Bielsa so far. Perhaps now the youngster would be thinking that he might have made a mistake by committing his future at Leeds.
However, he is still young and it’s early days in the season and Pearce can go on to improve. Maybe we can see Pearce being used as a centre back in the future as he has excellent defensive capabilities and decent positional sense. He can carry out the ball from the back so it very much can be that the gaffer has a bit different plans for him. But for now, he would be disappointed that he wasn’t preferred for the left-back role when first-team option Douglas was out injured.
