Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa has an interesting conundrum on his hands this week following an injury to Kalvin Phillips.
The 24-year-old is set to miss the remainder of the season, leaving a huge void to fill in defensive midfield.
It means that loan star and arguably one of the Players of the Year, Ben White, is set to more further forward but as a result, it leaves another gap in the heart of the defence.
Who should play at CB if Ben White is moved forward?
Gaetano Berardi
Luke Ayling
The Argentine has a natural centre-back on the bench in Gaetano Berardi, but this isn’t who LeedsLive reporter Beren Cross is tipping for the role ahead of Thursday evening.
Instead, he believes Luke Ayling could surprisingly slide across with either Barry Douglas or Gjanni Alioski coming in at full-back.
In a recent column, he said:
“In an effort to get Barry Douglas or Ezgjan Alioski off the bench, I would slide Luke Ayling across to partner Cooper and bring Stuart Dallas across to right-back, where he began the season excellently.
“Given how defensive Barnsley are likely to be, Alioski shades it at left-back. The North Macedonian and Jack Harrison can double up down the left to break through.”
This would come as quite a shock as Leeds have lost just one match and kept 13 clean sheets with Berardi at centre-back whilst Ayling has only played their eight times all season.
However, both Alioski and Douglas have been in good form when handed an opportunity as of late, so it’s an exciting headache to have.
Mr Reliable, also known as Stuart Dallas, is the team’s utility player and he can quite easily fill for the 28-year-old at right-back, meaning Cross’ suggestion isn’t out of the realms of possibility whatsoever.