Credit: Imago

Daniel Lewis

Tue 2 June 2026 7:10, UK

Leeds United defied their tags as one of the favourites for relegation by staying in the Premier League with relative ease in 2025-26.

After a relatively slow start that saw the Whites drop into the relegation zone in November, a defeat at Manchester City – or more specifically, a second-half formation change – proved a turning point.

Leeds had the occasional blip, but Daniel Farke kept his side up with a few games to spare in the end.

Pretty much every player played their part in Leeds staying up, albeit some were a lot better than others.

With the season now complete, MOT Leeds News looks at what the statistics say about United’s top three performers.

Karl Darlow unexpectedly plays major part in survival

Karl Darlow entered the campaign as Leeds’ third choice goalkeeper behind Illan Meslier and summer signing Lucas Perri.

However, Perri was not the keeper Leeds were expecting him to be upon spending £15.6million to sign him from Lyon last summer.

Meslier is also too unreliable, so in came Darlow and the Wales international did not disappoint when called upon.

Darlow in many ways was the most unexpected hero in Leeds’ successful 2025-26 season, but he is due to be out of contract this summer.

While another keeper will no doubt be on Farke’s radar, Leeds could do a lot worse then reward Darlow with a new deal.

Ethan Ampadu as reliable as ever

Sometimes you need reminding that Ethan Ampadu is still only 25 years old and likely has his best days ahead of him.

That can only be good news for Leeds, with skipper Ampadu once again performing superbly this season.

He started 35 of Leeds’ 38 matches and made his presence felt in pretty much every one of those matches.

Selfishly, Leeds fans will be grateful Wales missed out on a place at the World Cup so that Ampadu can avoid any sort of burnout.

Anton Stach tops list of Leeds’ best performers

As per Sofascore data, which takes various metrics into account, no Leeds player performed better than Anton Stach this season.

With a 7.14 rating, narrowly ahead of Ampadu’s 7.13, Stach really was superb throughout his maiden campaign at Elland Road.

So much so, in fact, that he recently ended his exile from the Germany national side, albeit he was not part of their World Cup squad.

Stach contributed to eight goals – only three other Leeds players could better that – and earned himself a reputation of being a free-kick specialist.

His 155 carries, meanwhile, was easily the most of any Leeds player, showing his ability to turn defence into attack and get his side on the front foot.

The only issue Leeds may now have is that Stach will be on the radars of many other Premier League and European clubs.