Former Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City manager, Steve Cotterill, has showered praise on Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford in an interview with The Athletic.
The 26-year-old made his senior debut for Nottingham when Cotterill was the manager. The former Stoke City manager still follows Bamford closely and has made an observation about his game.
Bamford has always been a prolific goalscorer in the Championship, and Leeds paid £7 million to sign him from Boro last season. It was expected of him to become the lead striker at the club, but he struggled last season under Marcelo Bielsa, playing mostly as a second fiddle to Kemar Roofe.
He suffered two knee ligament injuries and missed a lot of action last season. Despite that, he scored nine times in 22 league appearances. This season, he has emerged as the club’s first-choice striker following the departure of Roofe, and he is finally showing his class.
Bamford scored four goals and provided an assist in the first month of the 2019-20 campaign, and there has been a lot of positives in his performances.
Cotterill observes that he has more aggression in his play than last season, as a result, he is now much harder to play against.
“There’s more aggression in his play this season,” Cotterill said to The Athletic. “That was maybe lacking last season but on the occasions I’ve seen him so far, he’s been much harder to play against. There are always little extras you can look for or ask for but at the end of the day, a striker who’s got everything costs £100 million-plus. Leeds have a quality player there and I reckon you’ll see that more and more.”
Leeds will return to Championship action on Sunday when they will face Yorkshire derby rivals Barnsley at Oakwell after the international break.
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