Debuts will not be handed out like confetti by Marcelo Bielsa to the likes of Joe Gelhardt or Sam Greenwood before Leeds United’s season ends.
Historically, there has been a trend across professional football for youngsters to be blooded in dead rubbers across the final weeks of a campaign when there is little left to play.
However, the Whites head coach, who has preached a similar stance in the past at Elland Road, remains steadfast in his belief the shirt will be earned and youth prospects will play on merit.
Gelhardt and Greenwood have caught the eye with the under-23s this term for the goals they have scored, while fellow teens Cody Drameh and Charlie Cresswell have excelled in defence.
Greenwood and Cresswell may have appeared in cup competitions for Bielsa, but none of the four have played in the Premier League as of yet.
With the club’s top-flight status confirmed for another season, the remaining motivations for Bielsa’s side are increased prize money and a distinctly remote push for European qualification.
Bielsa’s tireless push win any and all football matches will see the strongest possible line-up selected at every opportunity.
“One of the great consequences of this first year in the Premier League is that [Illan] Meslier, Tyler [Roberts], Pascal [Struijk] and [Jamie] Shackleton have been able to demonstrate they deserve to be in a squad of 18 to 20 players in the Premier League,” he said.
“When you see the price of a player of a Premier League squad in the upper two-thirds of the league, to bring through four players we see clearly the importance of these players coming through the academy for the project at Leeds.
“It's not about putting in players that are young, it's about playing them because they deserve to play over those players who play more regularly or that they can take advantage of absences by showing they have the level required.”
