Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk has admitted he wants to make it difficult for Jesse Marsch to drop him from the starting lineup.
Junior Firpo missed eight league games due to an ankle injury. This saw the manager deploy the 23-year-old on the left side of defence. His favoured position is in the heart of the back four.
Struijk is set to retain his place for Leeds’ league tie against Arsenal on Sunday. He aims to feature in the Whites’ defence, even if Marsch decides to rely upon Junior for the left-back position.
“Will his [Junior] return change my situation? For now, it creates extra pressure, because if I don’t play well, I’ll lose my place. I do think it’s good for me, because it also keeps me sharp,” Struijk told Voetbalzone.
“I don’t know who is going to play and I don’t know what the coach wants. Of course, my goal is to give him no choice but to field me. If the choice does not fall on me in the end, I can always go to the centre [of the defence].”
The versatile player has also detailed how he has fallen in love with Leeds, both the club and the city.
“To clear my head, I have to get out of that ‘soccer bubble’ every now and then. Leeds itself is a nice city. If you’ve just come here, it’s different if you’re used to Rotterdam or Amsterdam, because it’s an industrial city, but the longer you stay there, the more you love the city and people,” the defender explained.
“In the summer, I played golf a lot. We now have a group of guys who have qualities… Rasmus Kristensen, Illan [Meslier] and me. We are looking for a fourth player, but now we also play with our fitness coach Pierre [Barrieu]. It’s really competitive, but we have to make sure we don’t get injured. If we were to get injured, they would really go crazy at the club. We try to keep it somewhat calm.”
Struijk’s current deal at Elland Road runs down in 2024. As he is enjoying life at Leeds, the ex-Ajax academy player is aiming to land a new deal from the Premier League side.
“At least for now I’m really enjoying myself at Leeds and it would be nice if they were willing to extend my contract. I feel good here and I focus on Leeds,” he concluded.
