James Garner continues to be linked with a summer move to Leeds United after impressing for Nottingham Forest in the Championship this season. The Whites are not the only team that the Manchester United loanee has been linked with as a few other sides in the lower part of the Premier League table are reportedly keeping a keen eye on him.
He has been excellent for Steve Cooper’s side this season and has played a key role in their ascent towards the play-off places as well as their run to the quarter final of the FA Cup. Although, with first-team opportunities at Old Trafford looking limited, he is likely to look for another move away which could be permanent rather than temporary.
A potential Elland Road switch for Garner will probably hinge on how the season ends for Forest. They are just three points outside the Championship play-offs and could well secure a long-awaited return to the Premier League.
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Cooper will be hoping to retain the 21-year-old next season but without the offer of top-flight football, it seems unlikely to be viable. At the moment, there is no guarantee that such a promise will be on the table at Leeds but, following victories against Norwich and Wolves, only a couple of positive results will be needed to secure top-flight safety.
If the Whites finish above the relegation zone, Garner might become one of the club’s top targets. We have taken a look at the player they would be getting if he was to be signed.
What has Garner done so far?
Garner has had a very similar youth career to plenty of other young players who are regularly linked with big moves. He joined Manchester United at the age of eight and he is still on the books there.
Despite being sent out on loan for the benefit of his long-term development, he has made seven appearances for the first team. His debut actually came over three years ago as he was brought on from the bench in the dying minutes of a 3-1 Premier League win against Crystal Palace. At the end of that season, he was named the club’s Reserve Team Player of the Year.
He has represented the Red Devils on the European stage, making four of his seven appearances in the Europa League with all three of his starts coming in the continent’s secondary club competition. At the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign, Garner decided to pursue a loan move as he was struggling to make his way up Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s pecking order.
He joined Watford who were looking for one of their many immediate returns to the top flight but, after playing in almost every game in the first half of the campaign, his loan was terminated last January. He chose to stay in the Championship and agreed his first loan with Forest on the same day as he left the Hornets.
He built up a strong relationship with supporters at the City Ground and couldn’t have timed his first goal for the club any better as he opened the scoring at Pride Park against East Midlands rivals Derby County. He managed three more goals at the back end of last season and has added another three goals this term, as well as four assists.
Garner also has international pedigree as he has made a combined 25 appearances across the England youth teams from U17 to the U21s, with whom he continues to play.
Why would Leeds want Garner?
In short, why wouldn’t Leeds want him? He is a player displaying real potential with more than a decade in front of him if he avoids serious injuries.
Many have claimed that he could possibly be the long-term Mateusz Klich replacement as he operates in a similar role to the Poland international. Although, Garner does not have too much experience in the attacking midfield position that Klich has often been used in during his time at Elland Road.
After playing for much of his youth as a central defender, he is often utilised in the holding midfield position. If this was to be the case for Leeds, he would potentially slot into the midfield alongside Kalvin Phillips in front of the defence.
His defensive ability would make him a useful addition as an option to drop into a back three, whether that would be in a formation that uses a defensive three or in defensive transitions. Garner is a player that loves to drive forward with the ball, in a way that has been likened to that of Phillips’ England midfield partner, Declan Rice.
With three goals and four assists this term, he has also shown how he can have an effect at the other end of the pitch which would be of great importance at Leeds who, as seen this season, have struggled to outscore their opponents.
What has been said about Garner?
There has been plenty of praise for Garner in the last couple of seasons from people at both Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. His current manager has regularly fielded questions about the young midfielder after matches this season and speaking to The Athletic last week, Cooper said: “I knew him from his England Under-17 days, where he was captain, so we had a relationship before here.
“He has been excellent. Over recent months he has been a high-performing player in the team. He has been a constant selection for us.
“The loan is proving to be a really beneficial one. It is important now that he stays at the same level for the run-in. He needs to get to the end of the season and be able to say that he is a better player than he was before he came here. That is always the objective of a loan.
“We are very happy with him. We work very hard with him and he works very hard himself.”
A couple of Manchester United stars who have seen Garner up close and have also sung his praises. Firstly, back in 2019, Juan Mata compared him to one of his Spanish team mates: “I really like training when he trains with us, or watching the under-23 games, because you can see that he understands the game. He makes the right decisions. He is a proper player and I really like him.
“Isco is another example of this type of player. He is this talented player and creative soul, if you want to call it that – he creates. I used to like playing with him [Isco] in Valencia and I watch him in Madrid now. These kinds of creative players, with control, with a move, with a pass – they make football."
Bruno Fernandes was equally impressed by what he has seen from Garner when he has been involved with the first-team squad at Carrington. “Jimmy Garner, I think is a really good player, I really like him and the way he kicks the ball,” said the Portugal international in August. “He’s really aggressive off the ball too.”
Two Red Devils legends also only had good things to say about him, with the usually hard-faced Roy Keane telling ITV Sport of his quality after Forest’s narrow FA Cup defeat to Liverpool. “He’s got a good partnership with Yates going in the middle of midfield. I think they complement each other very well,” he said.
“He’s very good technically and he likes to dictate the play, sit a little bit more than Yates. Tough game for him today, but this game is good for those young players to experience playing top teams like Liverpool. It’s a great way to learn.”
Finally, Keane’s former team mate, Bryan Robson, outlined prior to the start of this season what Garner had to do to break into the first team at Old Trafford. He told the club website : "It's always good to see the lads who have been out on loan. Then the younger players coming through get that opportunity. It's good to see how well they can do against the opposition we've selected for the pre-season games.
“For James, this is it. He has had his education now and is at that age where he can really prove himself this season, whether he's going to be at Manchester United or go out on loan again. He's a very intelligent footballer and works very hard at his game. Now it is up to James to step up and prove to Ole he is worthy of a place in the squad."
