Leeds United have seen plenty of their players leave and go onto do great things over the course of the last 20 years.
Having once been at the pinnacle of English football, Leeds are now very much among a large group of clubs who are simply a stepping stone for those with the riches in Europe’s elite.
Two recent examples include both Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha. Despite Leeds being a Premier League club at the time, they still sought moves away to Manchester City and Barcelona, winning a couple of titles apiece. That said, the former could be on his way back to Elland Road this summer.
Going further back, and perhaps to a lesser extent to Phillips and Raphinha, there was a time where Leeds would lose key players for pittance to clubs who simply shouldn’t have been in a position to do so.
In the space of a couple of years, Norwich City signed Bradley Johnson, Jonny Howson, Robert Snodgrass and Luciano Becchio from Leeds. That was effectively the spine of Leeds’ League One promotion side.
Losing those players for such little money is why it took Leeds 10 years to get back in the Premier League after coming up from League One. Even then, it that was down to the appointment of a special manager in Marcelo Bielsa.
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