Huddersfield Town goalscoring sensation on tips from Robert Lewandowski and what he thinks about Leeds United's promotion prospects

Helik returned to action after just over a month out with injury after coming on as a substitute in Saturday’s West Yorkshire derby with Leeds United and made an immediate impact.

The former Barnsley centre-half was on hand to fire home a rebound and put Town in front just before the break in the Terriers’ first home game under the command of Andre Breitenreiter.

It took his goal tally so far in 2023-24 to an outstanding nine with the 28-year-old being the club’s top-scorer.

Despite playing for the entire second half with ten men following the dismissal of captain Jonathan Hogg on the stroke of half-time, Town dug deep and while Patrick Bamford levelled for United, the hosts held out for a precious survival point.

On training alongside a natural born goalscoring predator in Lewandowski, who has plundered a stack of goals for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and now Barcelona, Helik said: “Obviously, with every session with him, I can learn something.

"I try to use every session with him and with every other player in the national team.

"It’s a great experience for me, but I think I’m also taking lessons from other strikers in the league because I know as a defender what I don’t like when they are against me - and I’m trying to do the same in the opposite way.

"There is always a moment as a defender when you switch off when the shot is coming, and I’m trying to be alive for the second balls especially.“Robert scores every type of goal. He’s different class, the best player in Polish football history without doubt - a great striker, a great human being and I rate him really really high.

"The number of goals he has scored in the last 10 years is something crazy.”

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Despite being pegged back by Leeds, Huddersfield had the consolation of being the first side in 2024 to take points against Daniel Farke’s side, who were chasing a club record tenth straight league success on Saturday.

Town had other ideas, but Helik is still backing Leeds for promotion from what he has seen.

He continued: "I think they’ve got so much quality in the squad and honestly I think they will go up directly.

"Maybe it will not be popular to say, but the quality they have in the squad is really good. I think if they perform until the end of the season as they have been doing then they should do it.

"There are a lot of good attacks in our league, but for sure Leeds have one of them as well.”