Matt Kilgallon’s pre-season prediction about Leeds United quartet couldn’t have been more wrong

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The squad that Leeds United began the summer with could not be any more different to what it is now.

And that is certainly reflected in who Matt Kilgallon predicted Leeds would build their squad around for the new season all the way back in June, in the Mail (June 25, page 95).

He suggested Leeds would need a blend of experience and fresh youth in their squad, which on the face of it, does not sound too outlandish.

However, the former Whites defender named Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Charlie Cresswell and Joe Gelhardt as four of five players who should be key to the squad.

The other player Kilgallon named was midfielder Archie Gray, who has enjoyed a superb breakthrough season at just 17-years-old, having started 11 of Leeds’ 13 matches in all competitions so far.

Kilgallon pre-season prediction on quartet wrong

While understanding Leeds would require a rebuild, he told – at the time incoming manager Daniel Farke – who the team should be built around.

He said: “Players will leave and next season’s squad will be completely different. It will be built around stalwarts like Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper and youngsters such as Charlie Cresswell, Joe Gelhardt and Archie Gray.”

At the time, this probably felt like a fair shout, but it could not have been more wrong based on how the season has panned out.

Both Ayling and Cooper have gradually been phased out of the team, with the former having been left out of three of the last four starting XIs, even though summer signing Djed Spence is out injured.

Cooper, meanwhile, is now firmly third choice at centre-back, with Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk having formed a brilliant partnership.

Farke has blooded plenty of youth in his side so far, but Cresswell and Gelhardt have not had the breakthrough Elland Road seasons they would have wanted after Championship loan spells last season.

Since the Carabao Cup exit to Salford City at the end of August – in which they both started – Gelhardt and Cresswell have played just two minutes of football between them.