Cantona influence, Gradel text, Ampadu's fines, a broken neck and feeling lucky at Leeds United — Leeds Live 2/12/24

Exclusive: Josuha Guilavogui speaks to LeedsLive about his Leeds United transfer, early Elland Road influences and Joel Piroe's Instagram fun

Footage of Eric Cantona and Olivier Dacourt in Leeds United white were enticing, but messages from one of the club’s post-relegation greats only reassured Josuha Guilavogui. The smile on the 34-year-old’s face, through every answer of this interview, only underlines how lucky he feels to be at Elland Road.

The midfielder was out of contract after two significant injuries last season and, approaching 34, wondered if the right offer would come. As Guilavogui fleshes out more of his story, you begin to understand why he is such a positive, happy individual.

He was knocked out on the pitch with Mainz last season and needed life-saving action from a referee after swallowing his tongue. Then there was the broken neck in 2016, which was only a few centimetres away from leaving him wheelchair-bound. You can see why he marvels at his surroundings.

He was two when Cantona, one of his birth nation’s great exports, played for the Whites, so memories are filled with old videos as he grew up, but Dacourt was a first-hand experience at the start of the century. Leeds is known as a major English club on the continent and Guilavogui, one month through the door, appreciates the legacy he is adding to.

“Yes, already, one month, but it feels like it was yesterday,” he tells LeedsLive. “I'm really happy to be there. For me, it's a big chance.

“I was at home and I had some offers, but nothing really where I said ‘Okay, I have to do it.’ When I had this call from my agent that Leeds were looking for someone in midfield, I said ‘Okay, if I have the chance to do it, I will do it because Leeds is a great club, a generational club.’

“In football, the value of a club is from the past and the past from Leeds is amazing. It's huge. Even for me, as a French guy, you know Eric Cantona was there, Olivier Dacourt was there.

“So you have a legacy and to add my name on this club is something really, really beautiful.”

Ethan Ampadu may be yet to share a pitch with the veteran, but the skipper has made an effort to help him settle in, and that includes with a series of fines that remain undisclosed. Illan Meslier, predictably, has swiftly become a friend, but language has evidently not been a barrier between the new man and the rest of the squad.

“This is one of my qualities,” he said. “When I am in the gym, I can speak, I can have fun with everyone. That's why I was captain when I was in France or in Germany because I have one of these abilities.

“Of course, with a French guy, you know, how it is. With Illan, even Isaac [Schmidt] also speaks very good French, he's coming from Lausanne, the French part.

“I have to say, with everyone, I also have a nice relationship with Joel [Piroe]. He’s really funny. He is always sending some crazy videos on Instagram.

“Patrick Bamford also welcomed me very good. I have to admit, you can see it on my face, I'm really happy to be here. I'm not shy and I'm just enjoying the time.”

There are two former Leeds names which leap out as former colleagues of Guilavogui’s. Mateusz Klich was briefly with the Frenchman at Wolfsburg before moving on to Kaiserslautern, but it’s Gradel where the memories come flooding back.

Gradel is now 37, but still playing in Turkey with second-tier outfit Amed SK. He is best remembered in Leeds for his blockbuster 18-goal Championship campaign of 2010/11, when the Whites finished seventh.

In the following campaign, he moved to Saint-Etienne in France, where Guilavogui was breaking through as a first-team player. They shared three seasons together before the current Leeds man moved on to Atletico Madrid.

“With Max Gradel, he’s like a big brother for me,” he said. “I remember, we played two or three years together and you know you have some people, not only in football, but they are shining?

“Max Gradel is one of the guys, when he's coming in the locker room, he’s always smiling, always have a good mood. I really like him and we spoke when I signed for Leeds.

“We spoke a little bit and he said ‘Yeah, bro, you have to enjoy it, this is a wonderful team and the club is big and I'm so happy for you.’ He's still playing in Turkey. I'm always texting with him. We have really good memories together.”

Guilavogui’s barely been in West Yorkshire for a month and played just 36 minutes, but he’s already going all in across all platforms. Social media is awash with third-party managed player accounts, dishing out generic statements depending on the preceding result.

Guilavogui maintains his presence is all his own work. The support of his team-mates, the reposting of their celebrations, using the right acronyms, sharing news of Charlie Crew’s Wales call-up, Jayden Bogle’s Team of the Week nomination, it’s all his own work.

Online, no player in the Leeds squad has been as prolific as this with their depth of interaction across all their team-mates’ achievements and the supporters’ dedication in years, if ever. He explains it.

He said: “Now with the social media, of course, we have to be very careful because, on social media, you have also the bad side, but how many kids dream about football? If I can let them come in and give my emotion and I can share with them, this will be the most precious thing.

“I had big brothers, like Max Gradel, like Bafetimbi Gomis, Dante, the ones who take me on their shoulders and said ‘Jos, I will show you everything.’ Now, I am in the step of my career where I have to give it back and, yes, I'm a happy man.

“What was the probability after being injured in the last season, for two times at eight weeks, not playing, staying home for six months and playing for Leeds? I have to be blessed, so let me share it with you guys.”

Please do, let him share it. The positivity is infectious.