Daniel James set to stay at Leeds United to help club get promoted from Championship – Beren Cross
Leeds United are set to keep Daniel James at Elland Road for the 2023/24 season to play a part in helping the team get back to the Premier League.
James signed from Manchester United in a then-club record £25m deal in 2021, and was a regular in his first season under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.
He was loaned to Fulham for the 2022/23 season but after the Whites got relegated down to the Championship, Leeds-Live (31 May) report that the club are planning on him sticking around and helping earn promotion next season.
“Daniel James, a £25m arrival less than two years ago, started just five league games all season on loan with newly-promoted Fulham,” they wrote.
“The 25-year-old has three years remaining on his contract and looks set to be a part of United’s promotion tilt.
“The Wales international first caught the eye in the second tier with Swansea City and it is hoped, while his impact in the top flight was limited, he can be a force in the Championship.
“Likely sales for Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra also thin out the wingers’ department at Elland Road, boosting James’s importance.”
Expected
Leeds have spent a lot of money in recent years and almost all of it can safely be declared as wasted considering we’re now in the Championship.
The signings that have been good like Wilfried Gnonto, Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra are unlikely to be here next season in the Championship, which means we have to make the most of the players that will stay.
We spent big on James and while he struggled in the Premier League for us and for Fulham, it was his performances in the Championship that initially drew us to signing him a year before we actually did.
Now it’s time for him to repay some of that transfer fee by helping us get back into the top flight while he still has three years on his contract, and hopefully good performances can help us move him on in the future.
We have to make the most of a bad situation at this point, and using some of the proven, international talent that we already have seems like a good way to do that.
In other Leeds news, Premier League clubs want to sign this international ace with his summer exit expected.