The 2017–18 season saw Leeds United competing in the Championship (known as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) for an eighth successive season.
Season summary Hopes of improving on Leeds' play-off near-miss the previous season took an early blow when manager Garry Monk left to take over at newly-relegated Middlesbrough, leaving new owner Andrea Radrizzani to appoint Thomas Christiansen as his successor. Their promotion aspirations took another blow when Chris Wood, their top scorer in both of the previous two seasons, refused to sign a new contract and then, a few weeks into the campaign, announced that he would not play for the club again, ultimately resulting in his sale to Premier League Burnley. This, and the injury crisis hanging over from the previous season, forced Christiansen to make a large amount of new signings over the summer, leaving concerns as to whether or not the team could gel quickly enough.
Despite all this, the club had what, in the early stages at least, was an even better campaign than the previous one, with the club topping the Championship for the early months of the season. A slump in form in October was turned around in the following months, and Leeds entered the new year looking in a strong position to challenge for promotion. However, a failure to win any games in January (including a humiliating FA Cup exit to League Two side Newport County), combined with rumours of unrest in the dressing room, saw Christiansen sacked at the start of February, and replaced by Paul Heckingbottom, manager of Yorkshire rivals Barnsley. If anything, however, the loss of form that had started under Christiansen accelerated under Heckingbottom, and Leeds only won four more games all season, two of them coming in the last three matches alone, leaving Leeds with the unenviable record of having earned fewer points than any team except for bottom-placed Sunderland after Christmas. Many fans were left disillusioned by this turn of events, convinced that the previous season had been a false dawn, and that Leeds were back to the pattern of mid-table mediocrity with occasional struggles against relegation that had mostly marked the 2010s.
First-team squad Squad information
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in the Championship (and playoffs), League One (and playoffs), FA Cup, League Cup and Football League Trophy.
Transfers In DatePos.Name FromFeeRef. 1 July 2017 MF Madger Gomes Liverpool Free 1 July 2017 DF Pontus Jansson Torino £3,600,000 1 July 2017 MF Mateusz Klich FC Twente £1,500,000 1 July 2017 FW Hadi Sacko Sporting CP £1,600,000 1 July 2017 GK Felix Wiedwald Werder Bremen £500,000 6 July 2017 MF Vurnon Anita Newcastle United Free 11 July 2017 FW Caleb Ekuban Chievo Verona £500,000 13 July 2017 MF Samuel Sáiz SD Huesca £3,100,000 13 July 2017 MF Ezgjan Alioski FC Lugano £3,200,000 2 August 2017 MF Ouasim Bouy Juventus Free 23 August 2017 FW Jay-Roy Grot NEC Nijmegen £750,000 27 August 2017 GK Andy Lonergan Wolverhampton Wanderers Free 31 August 2017 FW Adrián Balboa UD Unificacion Bellvitge Free 31 August 2017 FW Paweł Cibicki Malmö £1,500,000 31 August 2017 MF Hugo Díaz SD Huesca Free 31 August 2017 DF Bryce Hosannah Crystal Palace Free 31 August 2017 MF Alejandro Machuca Rayo Vallecano Free 31 August 2017 DF Oriol Rey Barcelona Free 31 August 2017 FW Ousama Siddiki Real Madrid Free 31 August 2017 FW Kun Temenuzhkov Barcelona Undisclosed 15 November 2017 FW Ryan Edmondson York City Undisclosed 3 January 2018 DF Aapo Halme HJK Helsinki Undisclosed 9 January 2018 MF Yosuke Ideguchi Gamba Osaka £500,000 11 January 2018 DF Laurens De Bock Club Brugge £1,500,000 11 January 2018 FW Oliver Sarkic Benfica Undisclosed 18 January 2018 MF Adam Forshaw Middlesbrough £4,500,000 23 January 2018 FW Sam Dalby Leyton Orient Undisclosed 29 January 2018 DF Pascal Struijk Ajax Undisclosed 31 January 2018 FW Tyler Roberts West Brom £2,500,000 31 January 2018 MF Jordan Stevens Forest Green Undisclosed
Transfers out Date fromPositionNameToFeeRef. 1 July 2017 MF Jordan Botaka Sint-Truiden Free 1 July 2017 MF Alex Purver Guiseley Free 1 July 2017 DF Charlie Taylor Burnley £6,000,000 (compensation) 1 July 2017 GK Ross Turnbull Free agent Released 1 July 2017 DF Jack Vann Harrogate Town Free 1 July 2017 MF Billy Whitehouse Tadcaster Albion Free 18 July 2017 DF Giuseppe Bellusci US Palermo Free 19 July 2017 GK Marco Silvestri Hellas Verona Undisclosed 28 July 2017 FW Lee Erwin Kilmarnock Undisclosed 21 August 2017 FW Chris Wood Burnley £15,000,000 22 August 2017 MF Liam Bridcutt Nottingham Forest £1,000,000 23 August 2017 FW Souleymane Doukara Osmanlıspor Free 25 August 2017 MF Toumani Diagouraga Plymouth Argyle Free 27 August 2017 GK Robert Green Huddersfield Town Free 17 December 2017 FW Jack McKay Free agent Released 17 December 2017 DF Paul McKay Free agent Released 1 February 2018 MF Eoghan Stokes Free agent Released
Loans in Start datePositionNameFromEnd dateRef. 19 July 2017 DF Matthew Pennington Everton 30 June 2018 7 August 2017 DF Cameron Borthwick-Jackson Manchester United 16 January 2018 31 August 2017 FW Pierre-Michel Lasogga Hamburg 30 June 2018 8 September 2017 FW Oliver Sarkic Benfica 31 December 2017
Loans out Start datePositionNameToEnd dateRef. 3 July 2017 MF Luke Murphy Burton Albion 30 June 2018 4 July 2017 DF Lewie Coyle Fleetwood Town 30 June 2018 2 August 2017 MF Ouasim Bouy Cultural Leonesa 3 January 2018 7 August 2017 DF Tyler Denton Port Vale 3 January 2018 11 August 2017 FW Marcus Antonsson Blackburn Rovers 30 June 2018 24 August 2017 FW Mallik Wilks Accrington Stanley 3 January 2018 12 October 2017 GK Bailey Peacock-Farrell York City 9 November 2017 9 January 2018 MF Yosuke Ideguchi Cultural Leonesa 30 June 2018 22 January 2018 MF Mateusz Klich Utrecht 30 June 2018 26 January 2018 FW Mallik Wilks Grimsby Town 30 June 2018
Pre-season Leeds United had announced six pre-season friendlies against Harrogate Town, Guiseley, North Ferriby United, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Oxford United and Eibar. Another friendly was scheduled against Ingolstadt, which was cancelled by local government officials in Kufstein, Austria. Instead, the club arranged a behind-closed-doors friendly in Italy with Bursaspor. The Turkish team divulged details and a video of the match to the public.
Post-season On 24 April, Leeds United announced a post-season tour of Myanmar.
Competitions Championship
League table
Result summary
Results by matchday
Matches On 21 June, the Championship fixtures were released.
FA Cup Leeds United were drawn away to Newport County in the third round.
EFL Cup Leeds United were drawn at home against Port Vale in the first round, at home against Newport County in the second round, away to Burnley in the third round and away to Leicester City in the fourth round.
Statistics Appearances
References