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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Mathew Davies

The meeting with new Leeds United boss candidate which saved Daniel James' career

Wales star Daniel James will be keeping an eye on who is handed the keys to the manager's office at Leeds United next season.

The winger is heading back to Elland Road after a campaign on loan with Fulham. Many believe the decision to send James away from Yorkshire, sanctioned by former boss Jesse Marsch, was a mistake.

James didn't exactly pull up trees at Craven Cottage, struggling to nail down a starting spot on the banks of the Thames, but he certainly fared better than some of his team-mates at his parent club.

READ MORE: Leeds United manager favourites Daniel Farke and Graham Potter have made transfer feelings clear on Daniel James

Leeds will start next term back in the Championship and James will, according to reports from the north west, be involved in trying to get them back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

The two frontrunners for the job, Daniel Farke and Graham Potter, have already made their feelings quite clear on James' potential, but it is his relationship with the latter that perhaps is the most interesting.

James broke through at Swansea City under Potter's tutelage, with the Welshman crediting him with saving his career as a professional footballer.

A young James left Swansea on loan in search of first-team football at Shrewsbury Town but it didn't go to plan. Indeed it led him to question his future in the sport.

A meeting with Potter changed everything for the winger, and the rest, as they say, is history. A stunning season under Potter in SA1, which included a brilliant solo goal against Brentford in the FA Cup, made people sit up and take notice. He went on eventually to seal a £15million move to Manchester United then a £25million switch to Leeds.

"I think it was the down point in my career. I went to Shrewsbury on loan, I came back within a month and hadn't played a game - injured and feeling sorry for myself really," said James after he sealed his move to Old Trafford.

"I didn't think I was going to make it as a footballer.

"Obviously you had people behind you saying 'You've got the chance', but within myself - going on loan, not playing and coming back, I really didn't think this was for me.

"I think I had 10 games that season altogether, with injuries as well.

"Coming back the next season was the same. I wanted to go back on loan but the gaffer who was there at the time (Potter) - he's at Brighton now - said to me 'I feel like you've got a big chance to play here'.

"Coming out of that meeting, obviously I was delighted but was he just saying that to be nice? He really put the confidence back into me to play."

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