Dan James and Leeds United are approaching something of a crossroads this summer as his future at the club begins to come into focus. It was made clear to the winger that he was considered surplus to requirements at Elland Road last summer as Leeds made the decision to loan him to Fulham in the hope of adding new faces to their squad.
However, he is due to return to West Yorkshire at the end of the season when his loan at Craven Cottage comes to an end and both the player and the club have decisions to make regarding the next step in his career. James was clearly a part of Jesse Marsch’s United plans at the start of the Premier League season.
The Wales international missed the first match of the season through suspension, but he featured in the next four games for the Whites, starting twice, as the club got off to a fine start to the campaign. As the transfer deadline neared, though, he was the man that was deemed to be the most expendable within the ranks and he was sent out on loan to Fulham for the remainder of the season.
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For James, the hope was that he would be able to nail down the minutes required to earn a spot in Rob Page’s World Cup plans, while Leeds used the space within their squad to eventually bring in Wilfried Gnonto. To his credit, the 25-year-old did travel to Qatar and he featured in all three of Wales’ group games at the tournament, but it’s fair to say he would have hoped to have played more of a key role for Marco Silva at Fulham.
He has made 13 Premier League appearances for the Londoners, his last start, though, came in October and he has amassed just 28 top flight minutes since the turn of the year to sum up what has been a challenging, frustrating and disappointing period for the loanee. James will rightly be focused on trying to pick up as many minutes as possible for both Fulham and Wales over the next few weeks and months.
Both teams have plenty to play for, with Fulham pushing for a top half finish and Wales getting their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign underway. Nevertheless, he could be forgiven for allowing summer and the possibility of turning over a new leaf to crop up as thoughts in his mind.
Of course, there are still plenty of unknowns at Elland Road, including what division the club find themselves competing in and also who will be in the hot seat, given Javi Gracia joined the club on what was described as a ‘flexible’ deal. As it stands, though, James is due to report to Thorp Arch when pre-season gets underway and given how his switch to the capital came about on September 1, he may well find himself considering his options before that date comes.
Conversely, despite other attacking options emerging at Leeds over the last few months, the man in charge may still be keen to run the rule over James for themselves. Decisions will have to be made one way or the other, though, and it remains to be seen whether either party sees a future for James at Leeds.
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