Michael Bridges names Leeds United’s ‘standout performer’ this season, it’s not Dan James

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Michael Bridges has named his ‘standout performer’ of the season for Leeds United and it’s not Dan James.

Leeds United are as little as one game away from finally returning to the Premier League after Manor Solomon’s strike secured a 1-0 win over Oxford United on Good Friday.

With Sheffield United getting back to winning ways earlier in the day, Daniel Farke’s side can’t secure promotion at Elland Road by just beating Stoke City on Monday.

Instead, Leeds will need to win and Chris Wilder’s side must then fail to beat Burnley for an automatic promotion spot to be set in stone.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	43	26	13	4	83	29	54	91
2	BurnleyBurnley	43	25	16	2	59	14	45	91
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	43	27	7	9	59	33	26	86

It’s nothing less than what Leeds deserve after a brilliant campaign in which they have sat at the top of the Championship table for the majority, scored the most goals and conceded the second least amount.

There have been several fantastic performers all season long but Michael Bridges believes Joe Rodon has been the ‘stand out.’

Joe Rodon named as Leeds United ‘stand-out performer’

It was far from an easy evening for Leeds against Oxford and they had to dig in deep towards the end as Gary Rowett’s side bombarded the box.

But Rodon was equal to everything as he made strong tackles and towering headers to go with his defence-splitting pass that led to the decisive goal.

Bridges, who has been blown away by the culture Farke has created at Leeds, was also full of praise for Rodon at full-time and labelled him Leeds’ best player this season, above even Dan James.

He said on Sky Sports: “He celebrated that last-ditch challenge towards the end and then going up and giving it [some to the referee]. That’s what it’s about.

“Obviously, it was a Man of the Match performance that we saw from him but that spreads throughout the dressing room and Joe Rodon has been the standout performer for probably the whole season defensively for Leeds United.

“Mr. Consistent, reliable and I think that coach, that I’ve talked about several times, he typifies what it’s about under Daniel Farke.”

Rodon not nominated for Championship player of the season

Brdges isn’t the only one to have praised Rodon, as Rowett labelled him as ‘outstanding’ in the match.

Ao Tanaka hilariously applauded Rodon’s performance at the final whistle, Solomon said ‘what a player’ as he handed the Welshman the Player of the Match award and Farke hailed his dominance in the air.

However, despite his fine displays all the way through the year, Rodon has not been short-listed for the Championship Player of the Season award.

Instead, James is Leeds’ sole representative in the list of three contenders, which is just as deserved after his 12 goals and 9 assists.

Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford is the favourite after his ridiculous season of conceding just 14 goals and rumoured Leeds target Gustavo Hamer is also in the running.