Reports are indicating that Leeds United’s star man Pablo Hernandez is on the verge of signing a new contract with the West Yorkshire club.
Leeds United are currently four places and two points off top spot in the Championship, with West Brom sitting in first-place.
Already this season, Leeds have looked to renew the contracts of their key players, with Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, and Kalvin Phillips all earning new contracts since the start of the season. Recently, owner Andrea Radrizzani has sparked a new trend for Leeds to actually retain their best players rather than past players being allowed to leave for next-to-nothing due to contracts running down.
With this news fresh, we take a look at three knock-on effects of Hernandez signing a new contract…
It keeps a key player at Leeds
Since 2016 when Hernandez arrived at Leeds, he has been a constant key figure in Leeds’ quest for promotion back to the Premier League. With 123 Championship appearances under his belt at Leeds, Hernandez has netted 27 times and provided 31 assists, which is a very impressive record considering Hernandez is supposedly in the twilight years of his career.
As previously mentioned, Leeds have done well to tie down their key players this season, which set them up to build on whatever they achieve this season or be able to command a much higher fee in the transfer market than before.
If Leeds are to go one better than last year and achieve automatic promotion, they will definitely need Hernandez to stay at the club.
Boosts fan morale
With Hernandez being a hugely popular figure amongst the Elland Road faithful, it will be seen as very positive news to see that he is close to extending his stay at the Whites.
With divisive talk amongst fans surrounding current-owner Andrea Radrizzani and his recent comments on a potential investment, it would help to appease fans that what the Italian businessman is doing at Leeds is largely positive and is for the best interest of the club and their exploits on the field.
Leeds fans, if asked, would be largely unanimous in their agreement that Hernandez has been one of best players at the club since arriving, and news that he will be staying longer will surely be music to the ears of the Whites support.
Hernandez’s form could lift
Even though it may be hard to scrutinise Hernandez’s performances over his Leeds career heavily, there is still room for him to improve.
With a new contract potentially on the table, it can offer two reasons for a boost in Hernandez’s form. The first reason being that if he knows Leeds are looking to draw up a new contract, Hernandez will be looking to prove that he is worthy of it and earn it.
The second reason is that once he has signed it, it should give him a confidence boost that his club is putting huge faith in his ability, so he would look to repay their faith with an increase in performances after.