Leeds United announced the 26-man squad for their pre-season tour of Australia at the weekend, which showed how quickly things change in football, comparing the current group to the Leeds contingent that travelled Down Under in 2019.
Leeds’ last trip to Australia was as a Championship club, so we decided to compare the two squads and look at where the class of 2019, who secured a long-awaited promotion back to Premier League in the first Covid-hit season, have ended up. The club only took 16 players that time around, with then-head coach Marcelo Bielsa splitting his squad in two, with the other half staying back.
Goalkeepers
Leeds selected Kiko Casilla, who started the season as the first choice in goal, with Poland youth international Kamil Miazek as his back-up after an impressive stint with the under-23s the year before.
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Casilla kept his number one spot for most of the 2019/20 campaign but received an eight-game suspension in the second half of the season for racially abusing Charlton Athletic forward Jonathan Leko. The ban gave Ilan Meslier, who was initially on loan at the club from French club Lorient, a chance in the first team, and he never looked back, keeping seven clean sheets in 10 games to help Leeds to promotion.
Meslier remains first-choice today and features in this year’s tour squad alongside young ‘keepers Harry Christy and Kristoffer Klaesson. Casilla is still under contract at Leeds after a less-than-productive loan spell at La Liga club Elche last season, while Miazek is back in his native Poland, playing for fourth-tier side Warta Sieradz.
Right-back
Stuart Dallas and Bryce Hosannah featured in the 2019 squad at right-back. Dallas is still with the club but is recovering from a leg break sustained last season, while Hosannah now plies his trade with National League outfit Wrexham. The club released him in 2021 without appearing for the first team.
Rasmus Kristensen and Cody Drameh will replace them this summer. Kristensen arrived from Red Bull Salzburg. The Dane has won league titles in his home country and three-times in Austria with Salzburg. Drameh is a youth academy product and made three Premier League appearances last season before a January loan move to Cardiff City, where he would win their player of the season award.
Centre-back
Liam Cooper is one of the few surviving names from the 2019 squad and travelled as one of only two recognised centre-halves in the team alongside Gaetano Berardi at the time. The former Swiss international plays back in his home country, moving to AC Bellinzona in the Swiss Super League from FC Scion this summer.
Cooper is joined by Robin Koch, Diego Llorente and Pascal Strujik in the pre-season squad this summer. The quartet held down the position for Leeds last season, with Koch and Llorente entering their third campaign with the club and Strujik establishing himself as a first-team regular after arriving from Ajax four years ago.
Left-back
Barry Douglas and Clarke Odour were the recognised left-backs in the 2019 squad. Scotsman Douglas left Leeds last summer for Polish side Lech Poznan while Odour joined Championship outfit Barnsley soon after the tour concluded. Leif Davis and Leo Hjelde will be hoping to make an impression on this year’s tour as the players selected at left-back this time, with Davis back after a year-long loan at Bournemouth and Hjelde making his first-team debut last term.
Right-wing
The right side of the midfield is a lightly populated position for this summer’s tour as it was back in 2019. Pablo Hernandez returned to Spain last year after five fruitful years in Leeds in which he made 174 appearances for the club, scoring 35 goals and assisting a further 41.
Cysencio Summerville is the only out-and-out right-winger in the squad this time and is one of the large crop of youth players brought into the first team last season during Leeds’ injury crisis.
Centre-midfield
Adam Forshaw is another of the four names that featured in the 2019 and current pre-season squads. Leeds lost talisman Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City this summer but have re-inforced heavily in central midfield, with Brendan Aaronson, Tyler Adams, Marc Roca and Darko Gyabi all coming through the door this window.
All of them feature in the pre-season squad alongside Mateusz Klich and highly-rated 16-year-old Archie Gray. It will be interesting to see how Marsch deploys his new arrivals in the midfield, with this tour allowing him to try new systems to see what fits best.
Left-wing
Jack Harrison survives from the 2019 squad to join Daniel James and summer signing Luis Sinsterra on the plane to Australia this week. Sinisterra joined the club last week from Feyernoord after an impressive 23-goal Eredevise campaign last term while also helping the Dutch club reach the Europa Conference League final.
Mateusz Boguz is still a Leeds player, having spent the last two seasons on loan in Spain but is recovering from injury and has not travelled for the tour this year after going in 2019.
Forwards
Patrick Bamford is the final name to have featured at Leeds’ last two Australia tours. Kemar Roofe travelled Down Under in 2019 but was injured against Western Sydney Wanderers and then left the club that summer for Anderlecht. He now plays in Scotland with Glaswegian giants Rangers.
Rodrigo, Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood join Bamford on the plane to Australia this summer. Leeds are reportedly in the market for another forward, with Club Brugge's Charles De Ketelaere a top target for the club currently.
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