Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke is looking to follow in Marcelo Bielsa’s footsteps by saving the club from relegation in his first season back in the Premier League.
After a run of four consecutive defeats, Los Blancos picked up four points and scored six goals from two matches against Chelsea and Liverpool in the top flight, which took them out of the bottom three.
Farke has needed his players to step up in recent games to climb out of the relegation zone, and several stars have shown they have what it takes to succeed in the Premier League.
Ranking Leeds United’s best players this season
Joe Rodon, who started all 15 games, has proven to be a reliable option at the heart of the defense, winning 69% of his ground duels in the top flight, according to Sofascore.
Gabriel Gudmundsson, signed from Lille this summer, has also caught the eye at left-back, with 3.1 tackles and interceptions and 1.3 dribbles completed per game, according to Sofascore, while exciting fans with his bombardments down the left flank.
£17.4 million signing Anton Stach, however, has been one of the Merengue’s top three players, with his return of two goals and two assists as a box-to-box midfielder.
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Leeds United’s 5 best players this season |
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|---|---|
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Rank |
Player |
|
1 |
Ethan Ampadu |
|
2 |
Sean Longstaff |
|
3 |
Anton Stach |
|
4 |
Gabriel Gudmundsson |
|
5 |
Joe Rodon |
As you can see from the rankings above, we have placed Sean Longstaff in second place. He leads the team in “big chances” created (six), but he has also only started ten of 15 league matches, according to Sofascore.
This leaves the captain, Ethan Ampadu, in first place as Leeds United’s best player in the Premier League since they sold Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City in 2022.
Why Ampadu is Leeds United’s best Premier League player since Phillips
After Phillips was sold to City for £45 million, having become an England regular at Elland Road, the Whites were relegated from the top flight in the 2022/23 campaign. No other player was able to step in and save them from trouble.
The England star was particularly impressive under Marcelo Bielsa, as the graphic above shows, and he averaged 3.9 tackles and interceptions per game in midfield during his final Premier League season with Leeds.
Ampadu, now, looks like the club’s best top-flight player since Phillips left. He was deemed an “indispensable” part of Leeds’ midfield in the words of scout Jacek Kulig when promotion was being considered, and since moving up a division he has been a rock on the pitch in the middle of the park. It’s safe to say he could be the first player to lead the team to safety since the Man City midfielder was at the club.
Off the pitch, team-mate Karl Darlow described him as a “brilliant” person who has “handled the pressure” of captaining Leeds in the Premier League, which is testament to the qualities he offers as a leader within the squad, and perhaps explains how the team achieved the last two results despite such poor form preceding them.
On the field, his performances were impressive. Ampadu lined up in the middle of the park in the matches against Chelsea and Liverpool and caught the eye with his defensive acumen.
|
Ethan Ampadu |
Against Chelsea |
Against Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
|
Minutes |
90 |
87 |
|
Success accuracy |
86% |
87% |
|
Success rate |
100% |
100% |
|
Duels won |
6/11 |
3/6 |
|
Interceptions |
2 |
1 |
|
Dribbled pass |
0x |
0x |
|
Statistics via Sofascore |
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As you can see in the table above, the Wales international was perfect in his tackling and didn’t allow an opposing player to dribble past him once, showing how combative and reliable he was in midfield.
Ampadu has started all 13 of his appearances in the Premier League this season, according to Sofascore, and has averaged 3.7 tackles and interceptions per game, which is just below Phillips’ 3.9 in his final season with the club.
The former Chelsea starlet provides a similar presence to the England international at the base of Leeds’ midfield, sitting in front of the back four and filtering play, making vital defensive interventions to regain possession and initiate attacks for his team.
He won 60% of his ground duels and 53% of his aerial duels, according to Sofascore, while only being dribbled past 0.6 times per game, showing that Ampadu has been efficient and reliable in the middle of the park for Farke, as always present when he is fit.
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Overall, the Welshman might just be the club’s best player in the Premier League since Phillips, not only for the quality he clearly offers as a midfielder, but also for his leadership skills and the way he handles the pressure of leading a Premier League team.
