The Spaniard suffered a groin injury at the start of last month and only returned to action last week, clocking up 45 minutes with Leeds’ Under-23s side, proving his fitness to Marcelo Bielsa.
The 30-year-old returned to the first team fold in Leeds’ 2-0 loss against West Ham United on Monday, clocking up 30 minutes in the second half, coming off the bench.
Leeds legend Whelan feels Rodrigo had some heavy touches against West Ham, but stressed he only had 45 minutes with the second team since regaining match fitness prior to Monday’s clash, which is nowhere near the tempo in the top flight.
Whelan feels Rodrigo will need more time to find his match sharpness and regain his form, returning to his best where he can outsmart defences.
“Yes [Rodrigo had some heavy touches against West Ham], he has been out for a while”, Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds after the match.
“Just one 45 minutes in the Under-23s, scoring two goals, but nowhere any kind of real tempo that you are going to get in the Premier League and against the opposition that you are going up against.
“So, I was not expecting great shape from him.
“But he is intelligent, he gets into areas and he does try to work defence with their mind and he tries to get the right passes.
“He needs time.
“He does need time to get that little bit of sharpness and the edge back, especially in that position but the chances fell to [Patrick] Bamford and Raphinha on [Monday] night.”
It remains to be seen whether Rodrigo will return to the starting eleven for Leeds against Chelsea at the weekend in their upcoming top fight clash at Elland Road.
