Noel Whelan has claimed that Helder Costa is not a £15m player, as Leeds United prepare to start paying top money for the Portuguese winger.

Leeds took Costa on a season-long loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers back in the summer, with that deal destined to become permanent after a year, with the Whites having an obligation to sign the 26-year-old.

Marcelo Bielsa has involved Costa in every Championship fixture this season, either from the bench or in the starting XI, with the Portuguese a fairly regular feature since breaking into the side in September.

Yet, he’s delivered only three goals and two assists in the Championship, as well as a further three goal involvements in the League Cup back in August.

For Whelan, that isn’t enough to justify the £15m that Leeds will reportedly have to pay for the winger over the course of the next four years.

“He has not done enough. I have seen glimpses of what he could be but £15million is too much for him right now. It is up to him if he is a £15million player in the future,” Whelan told Football Insider. 

“He needs consistency in his performances. This is exactly what happened with Jack Harrison last year.

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“We signed him on a loan deal with a view to a permanent when Wolves were in the Premier League. What does that say? You do not let a good player go when you are in the Premier League. They were willing to let him go when they go gained promotion and it tells a story.

“We need consistency from him.” 

Costa’s best season with Wolves came during the 2016/17 campaign, when he scored 10 goals in the Championship and registered a further eight assists.

Despite the fact he is unlikely to get close to registering those numbers this season, he could be part of a promotion-winning squad, with Leeds top of the Championship table with nine games remaining.

The Verdict  

This is a rather scathing attack from Whelan at a time when Costa is starting to show a little bit more consistency and tease he might be this £15m player.

He started with some patchy form, but since the turn of the year, Leeds are starting to see something like Costa’s best; yes, he could have more goal involvements, but Leeds as a collective outfit are guilty of that failing, not the winger alone.

Bielsa rates him and trusts him to do a job week-on-week, which is good enough for a lot of Leeds fans.

Additionally, if Leeds are promoted, £15m is peanuts for a player like Costa, which will have convinced the men at the top at Elland Road.

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