Credit: Imago

James Barker

Tue 10 March 2026 8:40, UK

Leeds United progressed into the FA Cup quarter-finals after Daniel Farke took down his former club Norwich City on Sunday.

Indeed, it was a comfortable afternoon at Elland Road for Leeds, as they made light work of one of the Championship’s most in-form teams.

Sean Longstaff got the scoring started after 32 minutes, before Gabriel Gudmundsson doubled the lead just before half-time, and Joel Piroe made sure of the win with five minutes to play.

As such, Leeds’ win over Norwich accommodated a number of impressive performances from those in white, but not everyone took their chance to impress.

Dan James didn’t take Leeds chance vs Norwich

James has had a difficult season for Leeds so far, having found opportunities to play extremely limited.

This has been down to a combination of quality options across the forward line, as well as injury problems, which has seen him miss a couple of months this season.

So, with the Welshman now back to fitness, Farke decided to include him in his starting XI against Norwich on Sunday, keen to see if the winger would make a case for a larger role for the remainder of the campaign.

Unfortunately, the 28-year-old would struggle to make any real impact in the game, and was replaced after 70 minutes by Jayden Bogle.

As per Sofascore, James was able to create one big chance against the Canaries, but took just 22 touches in the game and lost possession 11 times.

He also made just one defensive contribution, completed 73 per cent of his pass attempts, took zero shots on goal and completed none of his two dribble attempts successfully.

Leeds are in tricky situation with James this summer

Having played a minimal role in their Premier League campaign, and after failing to take his chance against Norwich, James is surely facing an uncertain future at Elland Road beyond this season.

Now 28, Leeds would’ve hoped to get and see more out of the Wales international this term, but he hasn’t provided much fresh evidence that he can be anything more than a backup player in the top flight at this stage of his career.

As such, James may well be a player that Leeds look to move on from this summer, but that might also prove difficult, as he only signed a new contract through until 2029 last July.

Because of that, Leeds may still want a premium price for James, which could put a lot of prospective buyers off, and should also mean that simply ripping up his contract isn’t on the table either.