James has excelled under manager Daniel Farke and will play a key role in Leeds’ season, but still has a way to go to justify his price tag.
The Whites found themselves back in England’s second tier this season, after a couple of turbulent seasons in the top tier.
Their relegation back to the Championship caused a lot of turmoil at the club, as there were new owners arriving at Elland Road as well as players coming and going from the football club.
The Yorkshire side lost several key first-team players, as was expected when relegated, but they also did manage to keep hold of a few new arrivals from the previous two transfer windows.
One of those players who stayed at the club was Daniel James, a player that Leeds spent £25 million on in the summer of 2021.
Leeds wanted to sign Daniel James from Swansea City when his emergence first arrived, but despite him having a medical at the club, it was later announced that a deal wouldn’t be going through.
Instead, James signed for Leeds’ arch-rivals Manchester United in the summer of 2019, one of the first signings Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made as manager.
The Welsh international was an important figure at Old Trafford, as he featured in most games. However, in his second campaign, he kind of lost his way, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that Man United decided to move the winger on.
Man United were open to selling James and this was a chance that Leeds took, as they bought the attacker in a £25 million deal.
James was an exciting addition, as he played 32 times in the top flight in his first season at Elland Road, during which he scored four goals and chipped in with five assists despite playing out of position for a lot of the season.
However, last season, James found himself down the pecking order, and it was decided he would join Fulham on loan for the 2022/23 campaign. The 26-year-old played 23 times for the Cottagers as they impressed back in the Premier League.
James is now back at Leeds, and this season he has found himself performing well, but it still feels as though the money spent on the player was a lot.
It hasn’t been the easiest of times for James at Leeds, as the winger joined the club as things started to become difficult and then found himself shipped out on loan.
So, despite doing pretty well in his first season at the club, being sent out on loan meant that James returned to the club this summer with a sense of trying to impress once again.
The arrival of Daniel Farke has meant it’s been a fresh start for everyone at the club, and this has allowed James to prove to the club and its fans that he is very capable. At the time of writing, James has featured almost 30 times for Leeds in all competitions this season; 23 have come as starts in the Championship.
James has managed to produce his best scoring return in a season. He’s got 10 goals to his name in 27 league appearances, as well as six assists. The winger has been named in the team of the week three times, as he’s become one of the club’s most important attacking players
The 26-year-old has an expected goal rate of 7.31, with his scoring frequency being every 191 minutes. He is averaging 0.4 goals per game, with 2.3 shots per game and 0.9 being on target. James has missed six big chances this season but has a goal conversion rate of 16%, as per SofaScore.com, and is outperforming most metrics in terms of his finishing.
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Furthermore, James has an expected assist rate of 5.48. He’s created 11 big chances so far in the Championship. The Welshman has 1.6 key passes to his name and has a pass accuracy of 76% per game, while he has an accuracy crossing rate of 24%, as per SofaScore.com.
There is no doubt that James is a player who is bang in form right now and is excelling under Farke. The winger will likely have a big say in what Leeds achieve this season, but even with his performances and how he’s playing now, it still seems silly of Leeds to spend the amount of money they spent on James in 2021, when they had such prolific wingers in Jack Harrison and Raphinha, that would play most weeks; it seemed a case of Bielsa wanting James however much he cost given he had missed out on him in 2019.
Now, he is definitely repaying the faith shown in him by the club and proving them wrong for loaning him out last season. There’s a long way to go to repay that £25m, though.
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