Dan James has shed some light into Leeds United’s training sessions behind-the-scenes in their pre-season tour of Germany.
The Whites flew out to Germany on Saturday and are set to face two behind-closed-doors friendlies against unnamed opposition as preparations ramp up for the new season.
Daniel Farke‘s squad are expected to be out there for just under two weeks before rounding off their pre-season campaign at home to Valencia, seven days before the opener against Portsmouth.
Having only had a couple of representatives at the two major international tournaments, Leeds have a full squad of players out on tour and so should be ready to hit the ground running.
They have also made four new signings, three of which look very likely to be in the starting XI by the time Saturday 10 August rolls around.
James says Junior Firpo most annoying player in training
James is among those being tipped for another big season at Leeds having registered 13 goals and seven assists in the Championship last term.
He could be set for an even more prominent role this time around depending on what happens with both Crysencio Summerville and Wilfried Gnonto, as well as who Leeds bring in.
The Yorkshire Evening Post are among a number of outlets currently out in Germany covering Leeds’ tour, with Brenden Aaronson’s first day back among the main headline so far.
Interviews have also been conduced with a number of players, the latest of which was James, who was asked the most ‘irritating’ player to come up against in training has been so far this summer.
He said: “Junior is probably because he’s obviously very competitive. He’s not afraid of going through you with the tackle. I think in a small side as well he likes to get super tight and give you some little kicks on the ankles. It happens all the time.
“There’s always little fallouts here and there but you know at the end of the session, you get on with it. You eat dinner together, you make up, but there’s always a fallout because everyone’s competitive.
“Everyone wants to win and there’s always the losing team who can take it a little bit you know, hard done by by the referee. So it’s a few little tackles here and there and a few late ones, but it’s exactly the same in the game.
“We’re team-mates at the end of the day, we can’t fall out for long. You know, people are very different on the pitches to off the pitch. The nicest people ever, but on the pitch they want to be aggressive.
“They want to get into people’s faces and you know, they have that kind of different personality on the pitch, which is great. It’s all about you being team-mates after and making up.”
Who has impressed in Leeds training so far?
As mentioned, Leeds have granted player access to journalists throughout the summer, with Charlie Crew, James, Joe Rothwell and Joe Rodon among those to speak so far.
Both Rodon and Crew have spoken of how impressed they have been with new signing Rothwell so far, with the former claiming he has raised the level on the training pitch.
Rothwell, meanwhile, namechecked 15-year-old Harry Gray as someone who has stood out to him, and has tipped him for a big future.
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