Leeds United snap up Middlesbrough man – fan comments

20 November 2019

2 minute read

Leeds United are a side well known for nurturing talent in the age groups below the first-team level and filtering them through into the senior set-up.

You only need look at the current senior side and the way that Kalvin Phillips has been brought through. Then there’s last season’s breakthrough duo Jamie Shackleton and Jack Clarke, the latter back on loan at Elland Road after a £10million sale to Tottenham Hotspur.

Bubbling under, and threatening to break through on a more regular basis from the Under-23s is young defender Leif ‘Very Good’ Davis, a player signed from Morecambe. The 19-year-old left-back has had three cameo appearances as a substitute, three appearances that pay testament to the good work done further down the ladder at the Whites.

The success of the academy structure at Leeds United cannot ever be understated. Its importance in the grand scheme of things at Elland Road is destined to continue and there’ll be a new face on board, according to Adam Pope on Twitter:

I understand that Andy Foster will be named as the club’s new head of Academy coaching after Richard Cresswell’s departure in the summer. He is well thought of in coaching circles. He joins from Middlesbrough and has a FA background as a National Coach Developer. #lufc

— Adam Pope (@apopey) November 20, 2019

The position filled by Foster had been vacant since former Whites striker Richard Cresswell left in the summer. Foster’s arrival from the Teessiders will ensure continuity at United, a continuity that will hopefully see youngsters moving up the system at the club.

It is something of a low-key appoinment in the eyes of many, but it is an appointment enough to get these Whites fans talking.