It was a summer of wholesale changes at Leeds United but one player who has remained a constant for the last six years is Patrick Bamford.
Bamford is now the oldest outfield player in Leeds’ squad and so even while he’s not playing, has an important leadership to play off the pitch.
The 31-year-old came within 90 minutes of winning his second promotion to the Premier League with Leeds last season but after failure to win the play-off final, could only watch on as several key players left.
Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all departed Elland Road for big money, which meant Leeds had to a significantly bigger rebuild than they had wanted.
Leeds actually ended up being the most profitable club in world football during the summer window, but it doesn’t mean they haven’t been able to build a competitive team.
Bamford shares opinion on Leeds’ signings
Leeds brought in eight new signings over the course of the window and aside from Jayden Bogle and Joe Rodon, the majority of them have had to be patient for their opportunity.
Largie Ramazani, Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell have only recently come into the side as a result of injuries, while Isaac Schmidt is still awaiting his first Championship start.
Manor Solomon, meanwhile, has missed the last four matches due to injury, having enjoyed a fine debut against Hull City in August.
Bamford was speaking on the latest episode of the BBC’s 72+ Podcast and was asked what the summer was like at Leeds after missing out on promotion.
He claimed after a period of uncertainty, Leeds were able to sort out the squad pretty quickly and believes the signings that have come in have replaced those who left well.
He said: “We went down the play-off route and lost in the final, which kind of, at the time was a strange one. We knew next year, being this year, we have another great chance to do it again, but we also knew at that point it was more than likely we were going to lose a lot of our best players.
“Starting the season was a little bit uncertain, probably not as much as the season before, but still a little bit with who was going to be here and who wasn’t. The squad got sorted out pretty early on and the players that we lost, we replaced. I think we’ve actually brought in some really good players.”
Bamford wanted Leeds exit in 2023
Bamford is now into his seventh season at Leeds but could so easily have left the club just over a year ago.
After supporters had come to his house following a penalty miss against Newcastle United, Bamford wanted to leave Elland Road that summer. However, in the end he opted against doing so, claiming it was the ‘easy’ way out.
He said: “I wouldn’t say it ever made me want to hang the boots up and finish football, I’ll know when the time is right for that. But at a point, when I knew my family wasn’t comfortable here, being honest at that point, I wanted to leave.
“I wanted a fresh start and wanted to get somewhere where it was a new start for the family, something fresh and it was just normal, as easy as that sounds. But it wasn’t until sitting down and thinking about it, I had to make sure my missus was OK with it, and reassure her it won’t happen again by putting measures in place.
“I knew it was a tough one for me, because after going down, there was still unfinished business with Leeds because I felt like I hadn’t been able to contribute for the last 18 months in the Prem. Part of me wanted to really start somewhere new, that would almost be the easy option.
“Over that summer, there was a lot of thinking hard about it, having a few chats and that. In the end, I said I didn’t want to take the easy option and the easy way out.”
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