Lewis Bate reacts after next move confirmed following Leeds United exit
Leeds United midfielder Lewis Bate will join League One side Stockport County after his contract at Elland Road expires at the end of the month.
Bate confirmed the free transfer move with a post on X (20 June), stating that he was “buzzing” to be joining last season’s League Two champions ahead of their upcoming campaign in the third tier.
The 21-year-old was confirmed to be leaving the Whites on 30 June in the club’s retained list, having spent the second half of last season on loan at another League Two side MK Dons.
Although Bate failed to achieve promotion from the fourth tier as part of a record-breaking play-off semi-final loss, he still gets the upgrade to League One he was striving for with a move across the pennines.
Lewis Bate transfer ends forgettable Leeds United spell
Bate arrived at Elland Road in 2021 on a reported £1.2million transfer from Chelsea, suggesting big things were on the horizon having impressed in his journey through the academy at Stamford Bridge.
However, his first season with Leeds would prove to be the only one he made much impact in, featuring once in the FA Cup and twice in the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch respectively.
Marsch loaned the then-teenager to League One outfit Oxford United in 2022, and he didn’t make another first-team appearance until August of 2023, against Shrewsbury in the EFL Cup.
That proved to be Bate’s final bow in the white shirt, with Daniel Farke not calling on him again and accepting a loan to MK Dons last January [Yorkshire Evening Post].
Some will argue that Bate was never really given a true chance to impress at Elland Road, but his departure brings an end to a spell which, much like the club for much of 2022 and 2023, went in the exact opposite direction to what was expected in the summer of 2021.
In other Leeds United news, Maximilian Wober has spoken out as radio silence emerges from Elland Road.
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