When Pontus Jansson arrived at Elland Road he quickly became a breath of fresh air at the back, forming an impressive defensive core with fellow loanee Kyle Bartley of Swansea City.
Performances began to pick up, results began to flow, but most importantly of all – Leeds United looked like they had a central defensive pairing who weren’t as porous as a sponge at the point of saturation.
Jansson’s inclusion in a Leeds United back four that included Bartley, Gaetano Berardi/Charlie Taylor and Luke Ayling was a welcome one, giving Leeds fans hope that they’d get something out of a season rather than a series of inept defensive displays and shrugged shoulders of resignation.
Pontus Jansson is, quite frankly, a ludicrous player to be performing at Championship level, he’d walk in to many of the teams currently in the Premier League. The 12-cap Swedish international, whose first cap came all the way back in 2012 in a friendly against Bahrain, is currently back in Sweden preparing for the upcoming World Cup Qualifier against France in Sweden.
Whilst in Sweden, he’s taken to training with former club Malmö ahead of the difficult France match, something that has made some Leeds fans grumble, not that he is bothered – dismissing their grumbles as “pure bullshit.”
Speaking to Swedish publication Expressen, Jansson also gave his thoughts on where he considers himself in terms of the international set up. Speaking quite candidly, the rangy centre-back sees himself as a realistic third choice in the national team behind the first-choice pairing of Andreas Granqvist (FK Krasnodar) and Victor Lindelöf (Benfica).
Commenting on this, Jansson said: “It feels like I’m behind Andreas Granqvist and Victor Lindelöf. But I’ll be ready. It was an injury last time, I came in and did well. We won both matches. They (Granqvist and Lindelöf) are two really good centre-backs and it’s just fun to be third behind them.”
Jansson is due back in Leeds to resume pre-season conditioning at the end of June, where he will arrive with Asa Thornell as his wife, the pair getting married before his arrival back at Elland Road.
