Number 10s became a bone of contention between Leeds United’s fans, manager and boardroom over the course of the summer, but they did technically add one on deadline day. Isaac Schmidt is not your usual full-back.
If your childhood was anything like this correspondent’s, then you were stuck playing at full-back because you were invariably the worst player in your team. Schmidt’s talent ensured he did not grow up as a full-back in Switzerland, he was actually a winger or a number 10 as he came through the ranks at Lausanne-Sport.
Schmidt’s not the first multilingual hybrid full-back to end up at Elland Road via Switzerland either. Ezgjan Alioski arrived, and played, as winger in his first season with Leeds, but Marcelo Bielsa soon put his work rate to task at left-back.
Schmidt’s versatility was one of the stand-out attributes fans noticed when they began researching him last month. He even came on as a direct replacement for Wilfried Gnonto down the right wing on Saturday in his debut.
“I’ve played so many positions I can’t even know what I like,” he told LeedsLive. “As a youth, I was playing left-winger, right-winger, sometimes number 10 and striker, until I got to the adult games.
“I never played in defence in my life until the first team. Sometimes you’ve got to play in positions you can’t play because you’re a youth. Sometimes I was still playing in games as a striker and winger.”
