After years of drifting in and out of the Leeds United side, Stuart Dallas has become a mainstay under Marcelo Bielsa this season as the Whites work towards a successful promotion push.  

Leeds signed Dallas in the summer of 2015 under Uwe Rosler, with the Cookstown-born ace starting his Elland Road career on the left wing. Since Rosler’s stint as boss, Dallas has had five other head-coaches in a turbulent spell in West Yorkshire, which has seen him become the epitome of consistency.

Dallas has featured on both sides of midfield, both sides of defence, and Bielsa has now experimented with him in an advanced position, with the Argentine looking to combat Leeds’ injury struggles in midfield.

Last weekend, it looked like Dallas would be joining the likes of Adam Forshaw and Tyler Roberts in the treatment room, with a late challenge in the loss to Sheffield Wednesday meaning the 28-year-old was hobbling heavily at full-time.

However, he’s shaken off that issue and is available to travel to West London as Leeds gear up for an important clash with Queens Park Rangers.

So, with Dallas in contention to extend his 27-game run in the side, we take a look at this season's contribution in the Championship…

In 27 Championship appearances, Dallas has managed 2,598 minutes, featuring at full-back and in midfield for Bielsa, really showing his versatility.

The Northern Ireland favourite has scored three goals in that time, with one coming from the right-back position (Stoke City in August) and the others when he was playing as an advanced midfielder (Preston North End and Birmingham City in December).

Additionally, Dallas has one assist to his name after his floated cross fell the way of Patrick Bamford in the 3-3 draw with Cardiff City last month. So, four goal involvements, with three of them coming in the last month as Bielsa gives Dallas licence to get forward from his midfield position.

In truth that number of assists could be more, with Dallas assisting 18 shots in total this season. Three of those came in the draw with Cardiff, whilst neat interplay with Jack Harrison in Saturday’s defeat to Wednesday saw Dallas open up a shooting opportunity for his teammate. A good low save from Cameron Dawson denied Harrison, who was unlucky not to break the deadlock.

Whilst we are seeing Dallas create the odd opportunity from this switch in position, he doesn’t offer the creativity of someone like Pablo Hernandez, who can expect to reclaim his starting berth at the Kiyan Prince Stadium this weekend.

Hernandez has assisted 37 shots in 1,365 minutes, with his creative edge much sharper than someone like Dallas, who to the naked eye, was playing a lot better football at right-back prior to Luke Ayling’s return to action.

His all-round capabilities mean Dallas is well suited to both full-back and midfield, as the remainder of our stats show: the 28-year-old has won over 50% of both his offensive and defensive duels this season, whilst posting steady percentages with his crossing and passing accuracy.

Whilst passing stats can often be deceiving, with players having criticism levelled at them about ‘playing it safe’, it isn’t the case with Dallas, who has 527 forward passes to his name compared to 203 backward passes.

In a Bielsa system, he needs both his full-backs and midfielders to have this bravery on the ball. They need to take risks, but be accurate; they need to win offensive duels, but be solid enough going in the opposite direction.

Dallas ticks a lot of boxes, which, alongside his impressive versatility, is why he’s been ever-present for Bielsa this season in the Championship.

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Having him dust himself down after a heavy knock against Sheffield Wednesday is great news, and with Barry Douglas missing at QPR due to another injury, Dallas’ versatility might be needed again in West London.

After plugging a midfield gap in Hernandez’s absence, a return to full-back might be on the cards as Leeds look to put to bed a run of one win in seven games, which has seen them surrender their lead over third-placed Brentford to only six points.

His versatility is what sets him aside from anyone else in Bielsa’s squad, but perhaps for the remaining 19 games of the Championship season, his consistency reflecting in the squad’s overall performance might be that little bit more important.