Lifeline: Bielsa's £34k-p/w Leeds passenger a big winner from January transfer window - opinion

Mateusz Klich could emerge as a big winner from Leeds United’s lack of business this January transfer window.

The long-serving Polish midfielder, who is a favourite of Marcelo Bielsa, has been struggling for form throughout the 2021/22 campaign but their failure to land top target Brenden Aaronson – or anyone in the role for that matter – has offered a new lifeline.

Indeed, the Yorkshire giants saw two bids of around £15m and £20m rejected by Austrian side RB Salzburg for their star attacking maestro, with a deal likely to happen in the summer instead.

Links to alternatives such as Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino, Huddersfield Town gem Lewis O’Brien and Marseille powerhouse Boubacar Kamara, among others, clearly never materialised either.

It means Bielsa is left to work with what he’s got, so he’s going to have to persist with the out-of-sorts 31-year-old for the next six months at least.

But Klich could take this opportunity to get back to his very best – after all, Leeds desperately need to see the same sort of form that made him undroppable in Bielsa’s early seasons at the club.

It’s been four years since the Yorkshiremen signed a new midfielder, so there’s certainly a need to bolster that area but Leeds will now be hoping that the Poland international can make that void not seem so obvious.

There was a run of games stretching several months before the new year that saw Klich fail to finish the 90 minutes, in fact after their first game in October, he didn’t complete another match until the win over Burnley.

In that game, he went on to create seven key chances, making 84% of his passes and almost rolling back the years to his time in the Championship, where he was a relentless figure in the final third for the club.

“Biel