It has been a solid start to the season for Leeds United, with the Whites currently sitting in fourth place in the Championship standings.
Their dominant 3-0 victory over Cardiff City last Saturday made it back-to-back wins for Daniel Farke’s men, with three Welshmen making a big impact on their return to Wales in a stadium they know extremely well.
Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu were partnered in central defence, with the latter captaining the side, and Daniel James played on the right-hand side of midfield, popping up with a goal just after the half-hour mark which the former Swansea City man seemed to enjoy a bit more than usual.
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Ampadu looks finally ready to realise his potential and has settled into life in Yorkshire after his permanent transfer from Chelsea in the summer, despite sometimes being deployed as a centre-back instead of his natural central-midfield position. The 23-year-old looks to be benefiting from having a permanent home in Leeds, after four loan spells from the Blues, having started every game so far this season
Rodon is another new signing at Elland Road, having joined on loan from top-flight outfit Tottenham in the summer and has also been a mainstay in the Leeds team so far, making 25 appearances.
Farke labelled the Welsh international as having “an old-school attitude, but a perfect role model of a modern defender as well” in December, and with 18 months left on his deal at Spurs, Leeds may look to make the loan deal permanent should they return to the Premier League.
James is the only one of the trio to have played for Leeds in the top flight, having signed for Leeds in 2021 from Manchester United. He was loaned to Fulham last season and went on to appear 23 times, scoring on three occasions while his parent club were relegated.
There may have been calls to sell the 26-year-old, however James has become an integral part of Farke’s Leeds, with 14 goal contributions in 25 games returning the faith that his manager put into him.
Importantly for Wales manager Rob Page, there are now three members of his side playing brilliantly, and part of a team that is winning games ahead of the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany this summer, should Wales qualify through the play-offs.
We spoke to LeedsLive’s Leeds United reporter Beren Cross to get the lowdown on the little bit of Wales in Yorkshire, starting with stand-in skipper Ampadu.
“Over the season Ampadu has been brilliant, I think he’s ever-present," said Cross. "He’s started every single game in all competitions which could only underline how important he is to Farke. He feels as though he is integral and feels as though he has to play for the balance of the team.
“He’s not always been brilliant, like all players over a season he can’t be brilliant all the time so he’s certainly had his low moments but overall he has been tremendously consistent and a proper leader already at 23, immense composure, determination and work rate.
“He sets a good example, it’s little things like he’s always the first off the team bus. It doesn’t sound like much but when you go to every single game and Ampadu is the first man in the building it sets a standard.”
We next asked Cross about Rodon, with the Tottenham loanee an integral part of Farke’s team thus far this season, and if there was a chance of a permanent deal for the defender.
“I think it’s certainly the question that a lot of fans are asking, clearly I think everything is dependant on promotion, I think if Leeds weren’t to be promoted it would be very hard to get a deal over the line," he added. "I think Tottenham would ask for too much money and I wonder if Rodon would back himself to be able to get a Premier League move.
“At a Championship level he has been brilliant for Leeds, right up there with player of the season. That’s the sort of standard we’re talking, he’s been tremendous. However for me personally I still think there’s questions about him at Premier League level but he’s just turned 26 so there’s still some room for improvement there.”
Moving on to the final member of the Welsh trio, James seems to be, from the outside, in the form of his life and really enjoying life in the Championship but we posed the question to Cross whether it’s Farke bringing the best out of him, or if the former Swansea man is one of those players who is too good for the second-tier but not good enough for the first.
“Based on what we’ve seen at Leeds, obviously we’ve never seen him in the Premier League under Farke so that’s certainly a question mark out there and maybe Farke would back himself to again get more from James in the Premier League but based on what we’ve seen under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch, he certainly wasn’t good enough in the Premier League,” Cross concedes.
“I think there was no real complaints when he was sent out on loan last season, that was a move that worked for everybody, again didn’t prove himself at Fulham and didn’t really play much at all so clearly Marco Silva didn’t think a lot of him but we can only judge the man we’ve seen in front of us and in the Championship this season he’s been brilliant, born again really under Farke.
“He's showing a service to other players and a finishing ability that we haven’t seen before, He’s the joint-second top goalscorer for Leeds behind Crysencio Summerville and he’s got the same amount of goals as Joël Piroe who Welsh football fans will know all about.”
