Mighty Leeds Weblog

Leeds United youngsters Leo Hjelde and Charlie Cresswell are of interest to a host of Championship clubs this month Joe Donnohue Norwegian Under-21 international Hjelde has been linked with a loan switch to fellow Yorkshire side Rotherham United, while Charlie Cresswell is set for a recall and fresh loan move after a brief spell with Millwall during the first half of this season, per The Athletic. Rotherham have seen Arsenal loanee Brooke Norton-Cuffy depart the New York Stadium this month, recalled by the Gunners, before being sent on loan to Coventry City who are challenging higher in the Championship table. This has freed up space for the Millers to pursue a temporary switch for Leeds’ Norwegian teenager who most recently featured for the club’s Under-21 side last Friday. Max Wober’s arrival from FC Red Bull Salzburg, coupled with Pascal Struijk’s early season form at left-back and Junior Firpo’s presence at the club means Hjelde’s minutes at left-back and left centre-back a...

Chairman Andrea Radrizzani features in the new Amazon Prime Video series ‘Academy Dreams: Leeds United’ By Joe Donnohue Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani is caught on camera offering his verdict on young centre-back Charlie Cresswell in Academy Dreams: Leeds United. The Italian is filmed conversing with director of football Victor Orta at a city centre hotel as the pair discuss the club’s blossoming academy prospects at Thorp Arch. As majority shareholder of Leeds United, Radrizzani is not involved in the day-to-day running of the club at Thorp Arch on the training and organisation side of things. However, splitting his time between Yorkshire, London and Milan, Radrizzani does often cast an eye over the club’s players at various fixtures throughout the season. During Episode Four of the new series, titled ‘Fight Back’, Radrizzani says: “I enjoy a lot watching the Under-23s this year.” "Initially, obviously I got a bit upset when we lose games especially in a si...

Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Millwall and Stoke City at The Den as Charlie Cresswell scored twice on his Lions debut to seal an opening day victory for Gary Rowett's side. Charlie Cresswell scored twice on his debut as Millwall opened their Championship campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory against disappointing Stoke at The Den. The Lions have long been a team capable of threatening from set-pieces and it was from this means that they claimed both of their goals, with their lead rarely being threatened. The Potters, meanwhile, have been stuck in mid-table purgatory for the past few seasons and their insipid display in south London will need to be improved upon greatly if they are to even reach that this time around. Benik Afobe, who left Stoke for Millwall permanently over the summer, had an early opening for the hosts but failed to anticipate Billy Mitchell's cross falling for him at the back post and could not control. But it ...

Young Leeds United defender Charlie Cresswell has explained why a season-long loan move to Millwall is just what he needs. By Lee Sobot Cresswell has made a big impression at Leeds in progressing through the club's Academy and into the first team for whom the 19-year-old has had seven outings so far. The centre-back is now a regular starter for England's under-21s and the teen says the pressure of playing regularly for Championship outfit Millwall is the ideal step in his development. The York-born youngster has joined the London outfit until the end of the season and the defender has vowed to give his all for the Lions. “I’m here on loan so I'm delighted to be here,” Cresswell told Millwall’s official website. “I’m going to be giving my all for this club and for this moment in time I’m a Millwall player and I’ll do everything I can to help this club and I’m sure I’ll show you that. “I think I’m a player who brings a lot of determination and a lot of aggressio...

Leeds United defender Charlie Cresswell has today joined Sky Bet Championship side Millwall on a season-long loan deal. The 19-year-old centre-back featured five times for the Whites in the Premier League last season and has also been a regular for the Under-23s over the past two seasons, captaining the side. He will now look to gain further first team experience away from Elland Road, joining Millwall who will be looking to build on last season’s ninth place finish in the second tier. We wish Charlie good luck during his time at The Den.

Leeds United retained their top flight status on the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season with a win over Brentford By Joe Donnohue Jack Harrison's last-minute winner against Brentford on the final day of the Premier League season will go down in the annals of Leeds United folklore. The Whites were faced with just a 15 per cent chance of survival headed into the last round of fixtures, but a favour from Eddie Howe's Newcastle United and a victory of their own in west London ensured another season of top flight football. Defender Charlie Cresswell did not feature in that game, but saw his role in matchday squads increase upon the arrival of head coach Jesse Marsch in February. England U21 international Cresswell was named on the substitutes' bench in each of Marsch's 12 Premier League outings, coming on during the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. From his pitchside vantage point at Brentford, Cresswell has described the mood on the Leeds bench ...

Leeds United teenager Charlie Cresswell has broken into the first-team this season but hopes to play regularly next season By Joe Donnohue Charlie Cresswell's breakthrough season at Premier League level saw him make five top flight appearances as Leeds United secured survival on the final day. Cresswell's involvement often came when Leeds were left sparse at the back where the 19-year-old England U21 international would fill in at centre-half. This summer, Cresswell plans to hold talks with head coach Jesse Marsch over his future at the club, focusing on his inclusion at senior level. The teenager was a stalwart of Leeds' U23 title-winning side of 2020/21, but saw game-time limited last season as he straddled the first-team and U23 setups. Speaking to the Press Association whilst away on England U21 duty, Cresswell revealed his plans: “That’s for me to discuss with Jesse and Victor [Orta, director of football] over the next few weeks and see where that takes me....

ENJOY NOTHING Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman The Friday night crowd at Elland Road was 21,321, and a few years ago, that wouldn’t have been remarkable, met with a tut and a shrug and maybe a sigh. Back in 2015/16, the season started with Uwe Rosler and ended with Steve Evans while Massimo Cellino ruled all, adding pie taxes to South Stand ticket prices and threatening to prevent our away fans from travelling to punish Sky (don’t worry, that never made sense). Along the way, home fixtures against the following teams had fewer than 21,321 in attendance: Ipswich, Blackburn, Cardiff, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Fulham, Bolton, QPR, Reading, Wolves. These were all first team games in the Championship. The average attendance that season was 21,667, just 346 more than went to see Leeds United Under-23s play a development match this weekend. Leeds didn’t win, going down 3-1 to the Under-23 portion of Manchester City’s ‘Elite Development Squad’. According to Wikipedia this compr...

Leeds United's under-23s squandered a chance to kick clear of the drop zone as Friday afternoon's Premier League Two Division One clash at Brighton ended in a 1-0 defeat. By Lee Sobot Charlie Cresswell returned to the XI for Leeds but star men Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville were not involved and Brighton's Evan Ferguson proved the clear difference in the first half. Leeds squandered a golden opportunity to go ahead in the tenth minute as a terrific Stuart McKinstry cross from the left picked out the advancing Jack Jenkins but the midfielder put his effort wide from a few yards out. But Brighton then began to cause big problems, particularly through commanding top scorer Ferguson who worked the opening for the Seagulls to take the lead in the 33rd minute. Ferguson had earlier been denied at close range as Whites keeper Kristoffer Klaesson smothered the ball off his feet and Brighton's Cameron Peupion then missed a sitter when volleying wi...

Even if Leeds United stay up comfortably come May, this season’s lesson must be learned. By Graham Smyth Those two victories before the international break were huge for Leeds and oh so timely, given the depths of despair plumbed in the aftermath of the Aston Villa defeat. Six points, three of which were as wholly unexpected as they were welcome, allowed the entire club to relax a little at the end of an increasingly tense, fraught and emotional period. Beating Norwich City was vital but overcoming Wolves put Leeds in bonus territory, ahead of where they and their relegation rivals might have expected them to be on the cusp of the fortnight’s pause. With that win, Leeds moved into a position to be able to say another two will probably do it and that much is not beyond the capabilities of this squad, not when you consider the qualities Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips will bring. For too much of this season, those qualities have been missed too severely and therein lies the p...

Archie Gray netted a screamer from 35 yards out as Leeds United's under-23s romped to an impressive 3-0 victory against Manchester United's under-23s in Tuesday night's clash at Elland Road. By Lee Sobot New Whites boss Jesse Marsch looked on as nearly 10,000 fans saw the young Whites steamroller the Red Devils through strikes from Stuart McKinstry, Max Dean and the pièce de résistance from Gray. Leeds squandered a fine chance to go ahead in the eighth minute as Sam Greenwood stormed down the right hand side of the box and provided a pinpoint cutback for Jack Jenkins whose shot from the middle of the area was saved by Ondrej Mastny. But the Whites made no mistake four minutes later as the impressive McKinstry tucked home a fine finish into the bottom right corner after Greenwood's shot was blocked, Jamie Shackleton and Crysencio Summerville heavily involved in the build up. Leeds should have then doubled their advantage five minutes later as a lovely ball from...

Leeds United trio Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper and Charlie Cresswell have all been pictured back in training as the Whites prepare for a return to action next week. By Ben McKenna The winter break has given Marcelo Bielsa's injured stars extra time to regain full fitness with Leeds scheduled to travel to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday night. Both Phillips and Cooper have been sidelined since the beginning of December after the pair picked up hamstring problems in a 2-2 draw with Brentford at Elland Road. The pair were both expected back in March, however Bielsa has previously stated that estimate was a worst case scenario. Can you tell we’re happy to be back on the grass? 😁 pic.twitter.com/vR1dDM61DL — Kalvin Phillips (@Kalvinphillips) February 2, 2022 Phillips has been one of United's stand-out players for a number of seasons as he tweeted about his return to training: "Can you tell we’re happy to be back on the grass?" That was coupled...

Leeds United have been struck down by simultaneous injuries this season leading supporters to question whether the club will engage in any January transfer business Leeds United have often arrived at Elland Road and various away grounds this season with a skeleton crew prepared to do battle in the Premier League. This has largely been due to the several, unfortunate and simultaneous injuries suffered by Leeds' key senior players. Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper, Jamie Shackleton and Charlie Cresswell all face lengthy spells on the sidelines, as confirmed by Marcelo Bielsa in this morning's press conference. Pascal Struijk and Rodrigo Moreno remain in the treatment room, recuperating from separate foot injuries, although it is not expected they will be absent until March like Phillips or Cooper. Fortunately, Bielsa was able to reveal Diego Llorente had overcome a bout of COVID-19, whilst Daniel James and Junior Firpo would be available for selection once more after injury...

Liam Cooper may be captaining players half his age at Leeds United but the job is a simple one. By Graham Smyth Substitute for the recent Arsenal game Archie Gray was born in March 2006, by which time a 14-year-old Cooper was already on the books at Hull City. Gray, 15, is the most extreme case of the young blood in Marcelo Bielsa’s squad and a dressing room led by Cooper but the youthful element is sizeable. Joe Gelhardt, 19, has made his senior breakthrough this season and already provided memorable moments for Whites supporters, winning a crucial penalty against Wolves and scoring a fine goal away at Chelsea. He led the line from the start at home to Arsenal, racking up his sixth Premier League appearance, and earned another penalty when he drew ex-Whites loanee Ben White into a rash challenge. Gelhardt is the most spoken about of Mark Jackson’s Under-23s at present but his fellow 19-year-olds Charlie Cresswell, Sam Greenwood and Stuart McKinstry have all seen Premier Le...