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Liam Cooper lauds Leeds star Stuart Dallas on Instagram

Jordan Harris

Wed 26 May 2021 18:45, UK

Liam Cooper has paid tribute to Stuart Dallas on Instagram, labelling the Leeds United star’s season ‘outstanding’.

It was little surprise to see Dallas take home most of the awards for the Whites this term.

The Northern Irishman was named both the Player, Players’ Player of the Season. He also won Goal of the Season for his dramatic winner at Manchester City in April.

In total, he ended the season with eight goals and two assists. Only Patrick Bamford found the back of the net more often than the 30-year-old.

It is remarkable to see how well Dallas has played. And following the recognition of his form, Cooper has taken to social media to laud his teammate…

Even Marcelo Bielsa may not have seen Dallas’ form coming at Leeds initially

It is easy to forget that Dallas was a peripheral figure during Marcelo Bielsa’s first year at Elland Road.

He started just 12 games in the Championship. But his performances at the end of that campaign saw Dallas fly up the pecking order.

Despite the result, few will forget his heroics in the play-off semi-final when he single-handedly nearly dragged Leeds to Wembley.

And since then, he has been a revelation.

He has missed one league game across the last two seasons. And in that time, he has featured in both full-back roles, out on the wing, in holding and central midfield and probably in other roles only obvious to Bielsa.

He is so good at being versatile that Bielsa compared Dallas to Javier Zanetti earlier this season.

And it was telling that few seemed to have many complaints with Bielsa drawing parallels between the Leeds star and one of the greatest utility players of the last few decades.

It looks to be a tall order for Dallas to replicate the form he showed this past season.

But no-one should be surprised if he manages it.