Leeds United’s sensible left-back: Presenting Gabriel Gudmundsson — The Square Ball 11/7/25

The carrier

Words by: Chris McMenamy

Leeds United’s summer of sensible signings continues, having now signed a left-back in the form of Sweden’s Gabriel Gudmundsson. He becomes the third defender to join after Jaka Bijol and Sebastiaan Bornauw, which presumably means the club’s recruitment team are approaching the transfer market like a trip to the supermarket, moving onto the midfield next.

Other than looking like Sam Fender’s big brother who turned down a music career in favour of a job in finance, what’s the craic with Gabriel Gudmundsson?

Career so far

Gudmundsson came through the academy at Halmstad, whose famous graduates include Freddie Ljungberg and Marcus Antonsson. He made his senior debut a week after his seventeenth birthday, playing a bit part in Halmstad’s promotion back to Allsvenskan, the Swedish top flight.

He scored four times in the 2017 Allsvenskan, playing mostly as a winger or tucked in behind a striker with another narrow winger — at the risk of sounding like Jesse Marsch — and impressed throughout, but his team were relegated.

A strong season with nine goals in the second tier eventually earned him a move to FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivisie ahead of 2019/20, a season marred by injuries and Covid shutting the league down, meaning he made only eleven appearances.

Gudmundsson returned in 2020/21 and Groningen coach Danny Buijs switched him to left-back for the first time in his career. He found success, setting up five goals as Groningen finished 7th and qualified for the European play-off. Gudmundsson’s exploits earned him a move to French champions Lille, and a chance to play Champions League football.

He spent his first season at Lille fighting for his place against Reinildo, who left for Atletico Madrid at the end of the season. It’s only in the past year that Gudmundsson has progressed towards becoming Lille’s first choice left-back, having played thirty times in Ligue 1 and featuring heavily in their 2024/25 run to the Champions League knockout stages.

Do we have history?

Leeds have done it again, by which I mean that they’ve signed another player that we have no prejudices against. His father, Niklas, played for Blackburn and, despite my best efforts, I can’t see that he did anything to offend Leeds United while sitting on the bench at Elland Road back on New Year’s Eve in 1995. Gudmundsson does share the same agent with old Leeds flame Pontus Jansson, however. Both are managed by Martin Dahlin, who scored four goals for Sweden at the 1994 World Cup.

Best moment

Gudmundsson played a key role in Lille’s Champions League group stage success last season, starting in the team’s 1-0 win against Real Madrid and setting up Jonathan David to make it 3-1 in their win at Atletico Madrid.

I’m sure he enjoyed making his debut for Sweden in 2022 but the bright lights of European football, beating the Galacticos and getting one over on his former nemesis Reinildo must have been fun too.

We trust he’ll use his experience in those matches as fuel to drive Leeds away from the relegation zone this season. You can’t go from Real Madrid to Rotherham in two years, Gabriel, can you?

Worst moment

There isn’t really one. It’s always great when you sign a player and can’t find any evidence of infamy or a Paul Rachubka-esque disasterclass in his past.

Gudmundsson did get a bit of a roasting from Habib Diarra — yes, that one — in a Ligue 1 match against Strasbourg last season. But there was a mitigating factor: he was playing as a third centre-back. It’s difficult to imagine why you would play someone designed to replace Junior Firpo as a centre-back, to put it lightly.

Rate the announcement

Leeds United soft launched Gudmundsson as though they were taking a candid picture of their new partner at dinner.

There he is, turned away from the camera as though he were staring out towards the vista on the Algarve, and not into a sweaty gym.

Not only that, but Gudmundsson was unveiled in a delightfully nineties looking Adidas drill top, the arrival into the club shop of which I’m sure many of us will be keeping an eye on. Until we see the price, of course.

He also confirmed that he saw Leeds jerseys when on holiday in Crete, which he took as a sign but others decided to interpret as almost Laurens De Bock levels of decision making.

How will they win us over?

If the stats are to be believed, Gudmundsson should quite often be the man driving Leeds up the pitch this season, with his passing and ball carrying. A layman’s viewing of his YouTube highlights shows a left-back with a tad less eccentricity than the maverick Junior Firpo, a more sensible footballer. Boo, hiss. No, but really, he looks like one of those Premier League players that just does the job he’s paid to do.

Left-backs aren’t expected to do much defending anymore, which might be for the best with Gudmundsson. He looks like he might be decent when defending higher up the pitch, but don’t expect him to mark Mo Salah out of the game.

He has also bucked the Leeds United trend this summer of signing players over six feet in height, coming in at a minuscule 5ft 11ins.

When it comes to replacing Firpo, early signs indicate Leeds have made a safe, smart move in bringing in Gudmundsson. Expect to see a little more of the basics, which might be for the best. He looks rapid too, which always helps.

Leeds United’s long-standing tradition of Scandinavian players continues with their new left-back, one who might make his debut in Stockholm against that lot. Kick someone, score a goal. Go on, Gabriel, get into ‘em.