Former Leeds United defender Danny Mills has claimed that Marcelo Bielsa may soon be forced to drop Patrick Bamford due to his recent lack of goals, despite his all-round contribution to the side.

Bamford has featured in all but one of Leeds' 33 league games this season, scoring 12 goals in that time, but with only one of those coming in his last ten games, the pressure is mounting on the 26-year-old.

That is something that appears to have been further enhanced by the arrival of fellow striker Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan from Leipzig, and it seems Mills feels that the signing of the Frenchman, coupled with Banford's recent lack of goals, could tempt Bielsa to make a change to his starting XI sooner rather than later.

Speaking to Football Insider about Bamford's recent performances, Mills said: “Bamford plays an exceptional role for the team. His work rate and everything else is superb.

“But there has to be a point where a centre-forward’s job is putting the ball in the back of the net. He is missing more than anybody else.

“There will become a point. It must be hard for Bielsa because everything is going right and Bamford if doing everything asked of him but it is not going in the back of the net."

Despite that, Mills did go on to suggest that removing Bamford from the side could still be something of a risk for Leeds, as he continued: “If he plays Jean Kevin-Augustin and he is not doing what Bamford does, it may affect the dynamic of the team.

“I understand the fans’ frustrations. But Bielsa is thinking that we are playing so well (so why change).”

Leeds are currently second in the Championship table, three points clear of the places, ahead of the visit of Reading to Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

This is an interesting one.

Bielsa is not a manager who often makes changes to his side if he does not have to do so, meaning that dropping Bamford would be quite a statement from the Leeds boss, and one that is unlikely to help the striker's confidence.

Football however, is a team game rather than an individual one, so Bielsa has to put the best interests of Leeds' promotion hopes first here, even if that does mean removing Bamford from the side.

Even so, it should be noted that Augustin was not exactly prolific one loan at Monaco in the first half of the season - scoring once in 13 games in total - meaning you have to wonder whether he will be able to provide the goals he will be expected to if he does indeed take Bamford's place.