Leeds United have endured and enjoyed their fair share of transfer blunders and blinders over the years as they have dealt with big flops and surprise stars.
The Whites have been unable to unearth a number of gems over the years and Daniel Farke will be hoping that a few arise from his crop of summer signings, which included Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev, Sam Byram, and Karl Darlow, among others.
Joe Rodon was brought in on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and the Yorkshire-based side will be hoping that he has a similar impact to the one that Pontus Jansson made after his arrival, initially on loan in 2016.
Statistic | Pontus Jansson |
|---|---|
Sofascore rating | 7.44 |
Appearances | 34 |
Clean sheets | 12 |
Pass accuracy | 85% |
Jansson’s 2016/17 Championship form (via Sofascore) | |
Leeds snapped the Sweden international up on a temporary deal from Torino for the 2016/17 campaign and he caught the eye throughout the season with 34 Championship starts and a duel success rate of 67%.
How much was Jansson worth when Leeds signed him?
The Whites then secured his services on a permanent basis in the summer of 2017 and Transfermarkt valued him at €2.5m (£2.2m) at the time of the move.
Jansson turned out to be an exceptional signing for Leeds as he produced consistently impressive displays at the back and outperformed captain Liam Cooper at the heart of the defence.
The former Torino ace played 42 Championship matches and caught the eye with 9.3 clearances per game and an aerial duel success rate of 72%, which showed that he was in the right place at the right time and dominated opposition forwards in the air.
Cooper, on the other hand, made 5.8 clearances per outing and won 58% of his aerial battles across 30 league outings for the club during the 2017/18 season.
How much was Jansson worth when Leeds sold him?
At the time of his transfer to Brentford in the summer of 2019, Transfermarkt valued Jansson at €6m (£5.2m) and this means that his value soared by 140% in just two years at Elland Road, which shows that the club struck gold with his arrival.
That move to London came after another impressive campaign for Leeds throughout the 2018/19 Championship season, in which the Swedish titan outperformed Cooper again.
Jansson made 4.7 tackles and interceptions and 4.2 clearances per match across 39 outings, to go alongside a duel success rate of 60%, as per Sofascore.
Whereas, the Scotland international made 3.9 clearances and 4.1 tackles and interceptions per clash over 36 league games, alongside a battle success rate of 63%, as per Sofascore.
These statistics show that the former Serie A defender, whose professionalism was hailed as “immense” by Brentford boss Thomas Frank, made more defensive interventions to cut out opposition attacks in comparison to Cooper across both campaigns.
Jansson also averaged a pass completion rate of at least 83% across those two seasons whilst the Scottish battler never completed more than 82% over an entire campaign.
This suggests that the Sweden international was also more reliable in possession of the ball to go along with his superior defensive qualities.
Overall, he was a fantastic signing by Leeds who was able to hit the ground running in the Championship as a big upgrade on Cooper, and they can look back on his time in Yorkshire as a success.
