Leeds United currently feel like a different team compared to the one that was relegated from the Premier League last term. The Yorkshire club are sitting third in the Championship and have been piling pressure on Ipswich Town and Leicester City above them.
Goals are flying in and the team are keeping plenty of clean sheets as of late, yet perhaps head coach Daniel Farke isn’t receiving the plaudits that he truly deserves. When he took over, Leeds seemed like a toxic wasteland, with a bloated squad on extortionate wages. Now, after one transfer window, there seems to be a togetherness once more in the team.
Farke acted quickly to clean house, removing players from the squad who either wanted to leave or overstayed their welcome. One player in particular, who was part of Farke’s vigorous clearout, has had a disastrous time at his new club.
Tyler Roberts’ time at Leeds
In 2018, one of Thomas Christiansen’s last acts as manager of Leeds United was to sign Tyler Roberts from West Bromwich Albion for an initial £2.5m, with the fee expected to rise to £4m in add-ons.
The attacker arrived at Elland Road with a slight knock, ruling him out for the first few weeks. However, things went downhill rapidly for Roberts as he cracked his shin bone while recovering from his initial injury, which kept him sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Nevertheless, Roberts eventually made his competitive debut for the Whites under the legendary coach Marcelo Bielsa and went on to make 108 appearances for the club, including 50 in the Premier League.
However, in his 108 games with Leeds, the Welshman bagged merely nine goals and recorded ten assists.
In contrast, Crysencio Summerville has managed 15 goal contributions this term in 18 matches and is just four from Roberts’ tally.
Tyler Roberts at Leeds United | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Appearances | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
2018/19 | 31 | 2,081 | 3 | 6 |
2019/20 | 23 | 1,084 | 4 | 1 |
2020/21 | 34 | 1,742 | 5 | 4 |
2021/22 | 27 | 1,187 | 2 | 1 |
2022/23 | 20 | 1,228 | 4 | 0 |
Stats by Transfermarkt | ||||
After a loan move to Queens Park Rangers in the previous campaign, Roberts was eventually sold during the most recent summer transfer window to Birmingham City for a fee rumoured to be worth just £750k, having become nothing but a bit-part player at Leeds.
Tyler Roberts’ stats this season
Roberts was handed a four-year contract with the Blues when former manager John Eustace was in charge, a decision which seems questionable in hindsight. The 24-year-old made his debut on the opening day of the Championship campaign away at Swansea City, lasting 61 minutes on the pitch before being subbed off. Unfortunately, this was Roberts’ only appearance for the Blues.
The ex-Leeds star suffered a calf injury in training a few days before he would play his former club back in August and has been absent from the Birmingham squad ever since, a time period which has seen a new manager take charge in the St. Andrew’s dugout in the form of Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney.
Roberts has now missed 21 matches through injury this season which is more than at any other stage over the past five seasons, the second-longest being an 81-day absence with a torn thigh muscle during his spell with Leeds two years ago.
The 20-cap Wales international endured a lot of criticism from the Leeds fanbase, particularly during the side’s spell in the Premier League under Bielsa. The Athletic journalist Phil Hay admitted that the coach persevered with the young forward because he “obviously rates him” but Roberts has been proving the critics right since leaving Elland Road, seeing little over an hour’s worth of action at Birmingham City.
