Leeds United have seen plenty of their players leave and go onto do great things over the course of the last 20 years.
Having once been at the pinnacle of English football, Leeds are now very much among a large group of clubs who are simply a stepping stone for those with the riches in Europe’s elite.
Two recent examples include both Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha. Despite Leeds being a Premier League club at the time, they still sought moves away to Manchester City and Barcelona, winning a couple of titles apiece. That said, the former could be on his way back to Elland Road this summer.
Going further back, and perhaps to a lesser extent to Phillips and Raphinha, there was a time where Leeds would lose key players for pittance to clubs who simply shouldn’t have been in a position to do so.
In the space of a couple of years, Norwich City signed Bradley Johnson, Jonny Howson, Robert Snodgrass and Luciano Becchio from Leeds. That was effectively the spine of Leeds’ League One promotion side.
Losing those players for such little money is why it took Leeds 10 years to get back in the Premier League after coming up from League One. Even then, it that was down to the appointment of a special manager in Marcelo Bielsa.
Kasper Schmeichel shares why he really didn’t enjoy Leeds spell
At one stage after Leeds’ promotion from the third-tier, it had looked as though they were on course to go back-to-back under Simon Grayson.
As it happens, Leeds ended up finishing in seventh and just outside the play-offs, mainly in part due to a lack of investment from Ken Bates in an unbelievably leaky defence.
Kasper Schmeichel was the man tasked with playing behind that back four, having been signed from Notts County in the summer that proceeded promotion.
Despite a promising first season, Schmeichel ended up leaving Leeds after just one year as he moved to fellow Championship side Leicester City, where he went onto win both the Premier League and FA Cup.
Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘Rest Is Football Podcast‘, Schmeichel has now opened up on his time at Leeds and the reasons for his departure, citing a particular chant from the fans about his Dad Peter, formerly of Manchester United.
He said: “I didn’t enjoy my time at Leeds, which is a shame, because it’s an incredible club. I think it was the wrong time, wrong place, wrong person.
“I was very immature in my way of being and I felt at the time, some of the things that were said about my dad were very disrespectful.
“Look, I understand the rivalry is there. But when you’re calling my Dad certain names, it’s not going to endear me, regardless if you’re saying I’m alright.
“They used to sing a chant, I won’t repeat the word, saying your Dad is something but I’m alright. I’m now older, I get the banter of it, but still you’re calling my Dad something that is never going to sit well with me.
“We had a decent season, just outside the play offs, but I got blamed by the manager for conceding too many goals when I was injured for two months and in those games I think they lost 7-4. 6-0 and 5-0.”
Leeds were made to regret Schmeichel fee
As mentioned previously, that period of Leeds’ history was filled with the club selling their best players on the cheap, and Schmeichel was no different.
Though the Danish man had ups and downs in his one season at Elland Road, he was only 25 when he was sold, which is very young in goalkeeper terms.
Leeds’ current goalkeeper Illan Meslier is still only 24 himself, and given some of the issues he still has with his confidence, it shows how much room for development there still is for shotstoppers at that age.
As per Transfermarkt, Leeds sold Schmeichel to Leicester for around just £1.4 million, a fee that did not reflect either his ability or potential.
Given what he went onto achieve at Leicester, and the longevity of his career, Leeds have been made to regret letting him go so cheaply.