Tyler Adams' Leeds United dressing room surprise as Victor Orta plan begins to take effect - YEP 21/7/22

Tyler Adams described himself as a ‘pest’ upon signing for Leeds United earlier this month

By Graham Smyth

Tyler Adams is not backwards in coming forwards so wasn't going to slip quietly into the Leeds United dressing room.

A highly confident 23-year-old, Adams felt no nerves rocking up at Thorp Arch as a new boy in a relatively well-established group, but he wasn't entirely sure of the reception he would get.

Speaking weeks on from his first day in training, as Leeds United prepare to face Crystal Palace in Perth, Adams raves about the greeting he has enjoyed.

"Honestly, this group has been so welcoming and obviously that caught me a little bit by surprise," he said after training at HBF Park.

"You know, whenever you're the new guy in the locker room, you know, it can cause a little bit of upturn but coming in and knowing a few of the guys already, playing against Jack [Harrison] in the past, knowing Jesse, knowing Brenden [Aaronson], knowing Rasmus [Kristensen] and some of these guys, we've come in new together and that's a good feeling.

"I can't believe how everyone, Pascal, Patrick Bamford, Klichy, Daniel James, all of them have just been so receptive to me. Some of them I've played against in the past, so just having that relationship with them already, but they're such good guys.

"There's good banter, it's a little bit different to a German locker room, which is nice, you can come in and speak your native language. So yeah, I'm comfortable with them already."

He's more than comfortable with the workload, too, having almost rolled straight from one season into another.

"Fitness wise I feel really good," he said.

"We had four national team games in the summer, two and a half weeks off and then I moved here so that was one of my shorter breaks that I've had and I'm feeling good. Still trying to ramp things up, get sharp and tidy with the ball and continue to work through the games ahead of the season."

The off-field chemistry is visible with this Leeds squad. New faces have mixed with Leeds veterans during periods of downtime and Adams has been spotted spending time with various different groups of players.

This time away has helped gel Marsch's group together in the social sense and that in turn should have on-field benefits.

"So far, so good," said Adams.

"It's good to get this exposure in Australia against the Premier League teams in the Premier League competition. But I think for me and obviously a bunch of other new guys, it's about gaining chemistry with some of the players."

One player with whom Adams has already started striking up an on-field bond is Marc Roca.

The pair were brought in this summer by director of football Victor Orta with the aim of dovetailing in the middle of the park in order to cover all bases.

They had their first run out together against Aston Villa in Brisbane and may get more game time as a double pivot in the Crystal Palace game.

Adams believes a partnership that can keep the Leeds midfield on an even keel is already forming.

"I didn't play against Marc in the Bundesliga, we didn't have the opportunity to play against each other but I spoke with Dani Olmo who I played with at Leipzig and he told me right away that me and Marc are gonna have a good connection," said Adams.

"A good balance of feistiness, tidy with the ball, he's a lefty, I'm a righty, so we already have our sides figured out sort of thing. It's still at the developing phase. But I think that we have a really good balance when we play with each other.

"So, you know, we're just continuing to establish ourselves, work on the tactics and fine tune things for the start of the season."