Kiko Casilla has had fresh backing from Leeds United cult-hero, Jermaine Beckford.  

Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa have maintained their faith in Casilla at the start of the Championship season, despite the former Real Madrid man enduring a tough six months following his arrival from Spain.

After taking the gloves from the now-departed Bailey Peacock-Farrell in January, Casilla featured as Leeds’ automatic promotion dream crumbled during the final four fixtures of last season.

Then, Casilla was at the centre of a mix-up with Liam Cooper in the play-off second-leg against Derby, with that howler allowing Jack Marriott to fire the Rams back into the semi-final, which they would go on to win 4-3 on aggregate.

After dividing opinion, many thought Casilla would be finished at Leeds following that, but the 32-year-old has played every minute of league and cup action in 2019/20.

This week, Beckford issued his thoughts on Casilla in an exclusive interview with Football League World’s Chief Editor, Sam Rourke.

“Granted, I agree, he’s a little bit wild,” Beckford stated. “But that adds to him as a person and as a player.

“He does a lot of things that regular goalkeepers wouldn’t even think about doing, let alone try and do. But I think that’s why he’s been so successful. He’s learnt from some of the best in the world.

“If he wasn’t up to the task, he wouldn’t be in the team.” 

Despite his part in Leeds’ disappointing promotion collapse, Casilla’s ways haven’t changed, with the Spaniard as erratic as ever in the 3-1 victory over Bristol City on the opening day of the season.

However, in his six Championship outings so far, Casilla has conceded just three goals and kept an impressive three clean sheets.