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‘Free spirit’: Phil Hay likens ‘outstanding’ Leeds United man to Adel Taarabt after Huddersfield display

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Phil Hay has likened Leeds United attacker Georginio Rutter to Adel Taarabt after his display against Huddersfield Town.

Hay labelled Rutter as a ‘free spirit’ in his latest piece for the Athletic following the Whites’ 4-1 victory against their West Yorkshire neighbours, where he was once again outstanding.

Taarabt is a player always looked back on fondly by Championship supporters following his performances in Queens Park Rangers’ promotion campaign back in 2010/11.

On top of the 19 goals and 21 assists he got, Taarabt was renowned for his incredible dribbling and trickery, attributes which haven’t been seen too often since then.

While not there in terms of goalscoring numbers, Rutter – who Leeds boss Daniel Farke labelled as ‘outstanding’ earlier this month – is certainly among the closest we have seen to Taarabt in terms of his creativity and skilfulness on the ball.

Hay likens Rutter to former QPR star Taarabt

As per Sofa Score, Rutter has already created 14 big chances in the Championship so far this season, double that of the man in second place, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

To put that into context, he is only nine behind the player who fashioned the most big chances across the whole of last term in Ryan Giles, who made 23.

Leeds United v Huddersfield Town - Sky Bet Championship
Photo by Pat Scaasi/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Rutter is also sixth for most dribbles per game, too and once again on Saturday Huddersfield found it hard to stop him, completing five of the 11 he attempted.

While he still has a considerable way to go to reach the heights Taarabt attained in that season, Rutter is causing Championship defences all sorts of problems when he is on the ball.

So far this season, the Leeds star has been a joy to watch and hopefully he is able to continue that, while also adding some more goals to his game, too.