Helder Costa had another sub-par performance on the right-wing for Leeds United as they once again struggled to break down a stubborn away side at Elland Road.

The Whites fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Wigan Athletic on Saturday afternoon, with Marcelo Bielsa’s men struggling to produce the goods in the final third again and seen them surrender top spot in the Championship once again.

Having signed in the summer from Wolves, there were lofty expectations on the shoulders of Portuguese winger Helder Costa, given how well he performed in the division in 2016/17 and 2017/18. However, this hasn’t yet come to fruition in a white shirt for Costa, leading to many questioning why Leeds forked out a reported £15million to bring him to Elland Road.

With just three league goals to his name so far this season, it hasn’t been the best of starts at his new club, but there have been glimmers of genuine quality from Costa in each game.

The Wigan defeat was just another example of his current form showing the inconsistencies in his play out wide but also being capable of producing moments that get the fans of their seats.

Leeds’ lack of cutting edge in the final third is a problem that runs deeper than just Costa’s efforts, but his showing on Saturday wasn’t vintage by any stretch, the numbers indicate he has to do more…

Costa played a full 97 minutes at Elland Road coming up against former Leeds full-back Tom Pearce, who was filling in for Antonee Robinson, who was still justifiably shaken from his AC Milan move falling through and unavailable.

Coming up against a young and inexperienced full-back in Pearce presented Costa with a great opportunity to provide consistent output from the wing and give great service to Patrick Bamford.

With a full game under his belt, Costa managed three shots in the game, with only one on target and only one shot assist. However, those chances were few and far between for Leeds, but the shot assist should have produced a goal for the hosts at Elland Road.

Costa’s looping cross in the second half found the head of Bamford six yards out and unmarked, but he wasn’t set right and could only glance it a yard or so wide of the back post. It was arguably Leeds’ best chance and one of Costa’s only meaningful moments of quality in the final third.

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The winger attempted a total of 11 crosses on Saturday and the one mentioned above was only one of two successful ones that he completed, showing a real lack of end product at the weekend.

There is no doubting that Costa is one of Bielsa’s most dangerous attacking players and even when he has been some way off the pace, he’s still managed to provide at least one moment of class. With that being said, he has an incredible output when it came to dribbling, with 10 out of his 11 dribbles on the right being successful, amounting to a 91% rate, which is almost perfect.

To go with that dribbling, Costa completed four progressive runs against Wigan, driving up the pitch and getting into really good areas to create chances, only to be let down by the final delivery, meaning he had just eight touches in the Wigan penalty area.

His overall passing accuracy was below average too, with just 74% of his passes finding a teammate.

It’s clear that Costa is taking time to bed into the structure that Leeds play in under Bielsa, as there are is a massive contrast to what he was required to do under Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves, who played much more on the counter and exploiting gaps all over the pitch, while Leeds are facing sides that are content to sit deep and leave little space in behind, stifling Costa’s influence, which Saturday’s result was a prime example of.