Leeds have had to deal with a number of injuries to key players this season across the board, including the likes of striker Patrick Bamford, and midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
Whites boss Bielsa maintains a small, tight-knit first team squad at Elland Road and Leeds’ injury issues have forced him to regularly rely on youth players to supplement the senior team.
Former Leeds hitman Deane has acknowledged that the platform the Yorkshire giants provide for up-and-coming talents to showcase their skills is a really good one
However, Deane admitted that he is worried some young Leeds starlets are being exposed to first team football too early in their infantile careers, and added overly relying on new players coming through will adversely affect their mentality.
“But from my point of view as a player, you know how much those games take it out of you, and if you haven’t got competition and you’ve got players going down with injuries, it’s difficult to rely on the youth players coming through”, Deane was quoted as saying by the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“And having been a coach and a manager, when you do start relying on new players coming through, it does start to affect their mentality.
“If you’re putting a kid in the starting line-up before he’s ready in front of 40,000 or 50,000 fans, he’s going to be affected if he doesn’t perform well.
“The platform Leeds have is a good one, but I do worry.”
Leeds were unable to bolster their squad in the recently concluded January transfer window, while Stuart Dallas is among the latest names to be added to their injury list.
