‘Show them’ – Dan James on his Leeds United future, Whites fans, Daniel Farke and Monaco defeat
Leeds spent £25m to sign James from Manchester United in the summer of 2021 but the winger was loaned out to Fulham last September and made 24 Premier League appearances for the Cottagers who sealed a tenth-placed finish.
Leeds, though, suffered Premier League relegation upon finishing second-bottom and 25-year-old James has now returned to the Whites ahead of the new Championship campaign which begins in just two weeks’ time.
Under new boss Daniel Farke, Leeds took in their latest pre-season friendly on Saturday against AS Monaco who recorded a 2-0 victory after a goalless first half through a Wissam Ben Yedder penalty and Kevin Holland header.
James, though, has been highly encouraged by what he has seen from Leeds under Farke and has revealed his delight at being back at Leeds and aims for the forthcoming campaign.
“I think I am just happy to be back,” said James to LUTV. “I love the place. I am really looking forward to being back at Elland Road, great atmosphere, great fans and hopefully we can show them this year what we can do. For me it’s about what I can do on the ball, goals, assists, working hard off the ball, just go into it with full throttle, helping the team.”
Reflecting on Saturday’s defeat to Monaco, James pondered: “I think for us we always knew it was going to be tough. They are a team that aspires to be in the Champions League so a great opponent.
“I think we showed what we are all about, we showed in moments what we can do on a ball. I think at the moment we are still getting there. It’s still early with this manager but we have got two weeks to build on it.
“There’s little moments where we can be better, capitalise on moments, stop breakaways. But all in all I think the last two or three weeks have been great. The boys have really drilled in to what the boss wants and we are starting to show what we can do on the pitch.”
