Sam Byram will be making a major pitch to clinch the right back position for himself this season with the backroom staff seeing him as the real deal.
Many are anxious that with Sofiane Fegouhli having arrived and Gokhan Tore on his way to the Hammers, Michail Antonio will be continuing at right back this term.
But Julian Dicks and the coaching staff are confident that young Byram will be making his presence felt big time.
Byram may face the same sort of wait as was experienced by Antonio last term but this is the season Slaven Bilic sees as his breakthrough campaign.
We were told by Tony Gale, a pal of Julian Dicks, that ‘The Terminator’, Slav and the back rooom staff rate the youngster very highly.
Galey said: “I was speaking with Julian last season and he told me that the lad is rated very highly by everybody so expect him to be breaking through.”
He showed he was good last season until he got injured. We all know the defence needs to be stronger than last year so is he good enough to make that difference?? Imo Slav will bring in another quality full international defender before the start of season to add more depth.
Why are the club dragging the squad over to Austria to take part in a tinpot tournament against lower league teams just before the EL qualifiers, isn’t that asking for trouble? Will it be the 1st team squad or the youngsters?
I hope the Hutchinson deal goes through as he looks like a defensive mr fixit – appearing to be able to play holding midfield and more importantly RB or LB when needed. I’m assuming he’d be a mentor & cover for byram….. leaving Antonio free to play further forward and do what he does best in reeking havock.
Sam byram is 22 years old with over 140 games in leeds 1st team in the championship, hes also proved he can cope with the prem in the few games hes played…..if hes not ready now he will never be ready