Still only 23-years-old, Tyler Roberts already feels like a Leeds United veteran. With 108 appearances, the forward has played more for the Whites than the likes Stephen McPhail, Jason Wilcox and Charlie Taylor, among many others.
And yet, despite that exposure, those opportunities which came from an unconditionally supportive Marcelo Bielsa, Roberts may have one eye on his future. The Wales international looks to be between something of a rock and a hard place.
Roberts is neither a cast-iron first-team regular nor a marginalised under-23 player itching for a loan move. He has the upside of semi-regular minutes in the most competitive league on the planet, but the stark reality he is unlikely to start the 25, 30, 35 matches in a season professional footballers crave.
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The approaching World Cup will not have escaped Roberts’s attention either. The Gloucester-born attacker has played enough in his four years with Leeds to warrant regular international selection when fit, but after missing the end of the domestic campaign Roberts was absent from Wales’ recent matches.
Roberts’s ambitious side must relish the prospect of starting matches for Wales, not just making up the numbers on the bench. To achieve that feat, and oust the likes of Kieffer Moore or Brennan Johnson, he needs minutes and goals.
Ironically, Moore and Johnson are only just about to join Roberts in the top flight after promotions with their clubs. There have never been noises about the Leeds man rocking the boat about opportunities at Elland Road, and he may well sit tight in the hope more chances come his way in a division millions of footballers would die to play in.
What’s the state of play for Roberts at Leeds? He has two years to run on the contract he only signed last summer and a head coach who has not seen enough of him in matches to pass judgement.
Roberts memorably ruptured a hamstring tendon at Leicester City within five minutes of his first appearance under Marsch. The American will have seen flashes in training, but pre-season will be important for fringe players like Roberts.
The arrival of Brenden Aaronson only piles the pressure on the former West Bromwich Albion man too. That’s one more body, based on his transfer fee alone, between Roberts and the starting line-up.
Should another top-level striker materialise, as they are expected to, then Roberts has a massive battle on his hands to play regular football at United without an injury crisis ripping through those ahead of him. These are the questions Roberts and his representatives will be posing themselves.
Like so many players in the squad, this 2024 contract expiry for Roberts puts Leeds in a difficult situation too. The best business case for the board should either mean a summer sale or a new contract.
If Roberts is neither sold nor offered a new deal he would either leave for less next summer or for free in 2024, unless Leeds risked offering him new terms next summer with 12 months left on his contract. A loan exit in this window would also be kicking the can down the road unless it came with an obligation to buy the forward.
Roberts may prefer the devil he knows. Take the possibility, not a guarantee, of minutes in the Premier League three months before a World Cup or risk dropping into the Championship where goalless runs would bring pressure of their own.
As Phil Vickery reasoned with the Raphinha situation the other day, Roberts and his camp may see little sense in rocking the boat right when he needs stability before what would be the grandest stage he ever plays on.
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