Though now a star for both Leeds United and Wales, Joe Rodon hasn’t had the easiest path to get to where he is currently in his career.
Rodon arrived at Elland Road on an initial season-long-loan deal from Spurs 15 months ago in desperate need of a year where he could play regularly.
Daniel Farke has handed him the opportunity to do exactly that, missing just two league matches since making his full Leeds debut against West Brom in August 2023.
Rodon’s 50 appearances across all competitions for Leeds in 2023/24 was just one shyer than the 51 he had accumulated in each of the three previous seasons combined.
The 27-year-old is now certainly reaping the rewards of such regular game time, with Wales boss Craig Bellamy full of praise for Rodon ahead of handing him his 50th international cap this evening.
Bellamy shares why Rodon failed at Spurs
Bellamy says Rodon is someone he always felt would become a ‘top player’ and Spurs were certainly also of that opinion when they signed him from Swansea City in 2020.
Unfortunately for Rodon, he never really got a chance to show that at Spurs, and speaking to Wales Online, Bellamy has offered his verdict on why that was the case.
Bellamy believes Spurs were actually reluctant to let Rodon join Leeds as they still had belief he could make it in north London.
However, Rodon simply had too much quality ahead of him in his position, which meant he was in a constant fight to secure regular game time.
He said: “It was difficult for him at Spurs due to the quality of players that were at Spurs. I think they believed in him so much they didn’t want to let him go, and they were waiting to keep him, but also had one or two players ahead of him, which can happen.
“It’s difficult because you don’t want to consistently for so long be a back-up. But now if it wasn’t Leeds, there were other clubs that were really after him this summer. As we see him now at this present moment, of course you can see why.”
Bellamy says Rodon is a brilliant ‘box defender’
At Elland Road, Rodon has formed a near perfect partnership with Pascal Struijk, which is right among the best in the league.
Struijk’s calmer reading of the game complements Rodon’s love of defending brilliantly and Wales boss Bellamy believes there aren’t many ‘box defenders’ better than his Leeds star.
He said: “His box defending. I know you’ve heard me mention that phrase. It means when you’re deep in defending in the box. Headers, blocked shots. He’s so good at it.
“That’s difficult. Trust me. There’s a lot of defenders that are not as good at that as him. When you look at him with the ball, he’s brilliant. He really is. The way we play enhances him even more. How he keeps it central. He doesn’t get blocked. He doesn’t go down pathways, cul-de-sacs he can’t get out of and then losing the ball.
“If you look at those profiles, defending the goal line, he wants to defend. Loves defending. Obviously in the air he’s exceptional, but he’s good on the ball. Very, very quick. That’s a good defender. He’s just been so good for us.”
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