Leeds United‘s newest recruit is a young left-back or central defender by the name of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. The 20 year old is on a season-long loan from a shady Salford-based franchise, and comes to Elland Road with something to prove after failing to make much of an impression at Wolverhampton Wanderers last season.
The new ownership and management structure at Leeds United should be credited with some solid good judgement, based on their recruitment record so far, and hopes will be high that young Cameron, who has apparently chosen Leeds over Dutch giants Ajax of Amsterdam, can be a further vindication of United’s recent transfer market acquisitions. A few notable markers have been laid down for the progress of CBJ (let’s call him that, to save pulling a tongue muscle). On the evidence of Sunday’s season opener at Bolton, Leeds have purchased well and wisely.
We haven’t yet seen all of the signings in serious action, but Pennington, on loan from Everton, looks replete with class and composure. Anita, too – a free transfer from promoted Newcastle – looked neat and tidy once called on from the bench. He seems to offer an ability to read the game from a defensive berth, and an endearing willingness to stride forward and have a good dig at the opposition goal.
Add to that the home-grown potential of Kalvin Phillips, the commitment and passion of the wrongly-maligned Cooper, and the wealth of possibilities in central and wide midfield, and it can be seen that Leeds are but an additional central defender and a support striker away from being a force in this league. Possibly an irresistible force.
If the judgement displayed so far in the recruitment of the above-mentioned signings, to say nothing of Alioski, Saiz and Klich, is borne out by young CBJ also proving himself, then we’ll have an embarrassment of riches in the squad, with quality backed up by quality all over the park. The talk now is of a young Premer League striker of pedigree coming in on loan to take some of the pressure off the broad shoulders of Chris Wood. All of a sudden, we are cooking with gas at Elland Road.
Last but not least in the instant gratification stakes, the loan signing of CBJ has prompted a petulant meltdown on the mufc Twitter feed. Which is nice for its own sake, but encouraging too. Even the Prima Donna types who “support” man u from their Devon hovels wouldn’t have tantrums over the loan of a non-talent. Hopefully, CBJ will be more of a Strachan than a Wootton when judged against arrivals to Leeds from the wrong side of the Pennines.
In the meantime, the future is bright – the future is White. Let’s buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
I see what you did there Rob; Ajax and Vim but I fear we’re both showing our age!
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Aye, that was always the worry! And it was a BIT Flash too…
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I worry that if the lad has a couple of bad games he gets abused as ‘scum’
If he plays well he simply goes back to that lot with a years development and training from us
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He seems fairly unflappable to me. We’ll see.
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Whiter than white !!!
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I agree! 1001%… MOT
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Hope he plays well for you guys he was woeful for us and our cm kept him on the bench if he got into the wolves squad
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Good points Rob. I too was very impressed with Anita, and how he could take the ball out of defence and diffuse an attack. I also think Cooper has had an unjustified amount of negativity. He always seems to give his all to me and would appear to be the type we love. Thought he made a good partnership with Pennington.
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And don’t forget where John Giles was signed from.
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I agree with every comment, including about the much maligned Cooper, you could have added young Phillips, who, given more freedom has silenced his critics, long may he continue.
So far very impressed with our new owner, he has set up a structure within the club, not seen for many years. We now have a scouting system, certainly abroad, and have recruited what appear to be quality young players for the future. He has signed up these and acadamy players on longer term contracts than had been the case for many years, thus protecting our interest from predictors. Had Byram,Cook and Taylor been on longer terms we could have commanded bigger fees for them. The tie up with the Spanish club is a brilliant solution to giving these youngsters experience.
Injuries apart, the Bolton game showed creativity which has been missing for many seasons, injuries apart, Shaunessy’s naivety was the only blemish. I still reserved judgement on young Sacko, he must be showing something In training which has yet to be seen on the pitch. In his short time on Sunday, his touch was diabolical, and he looked like a headless chicken, not sure where to run or what to do.
l hope he finds his form soon, before the fans start getting on his back, they are not the most forgiving.
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I too am very positive about all that’s happening, but you won’t be surprised, given my post on your last blog, that I question your ‘wrongly-maligned’ comment about Cooper. However frustrated he may have been, I can’t condone the reckless act of stamping on the head of someone lying on the ground, and the inevitable consequence of a long ban when we were struggling to find enough defenders to put on the team sheet. In time, if he shows consistent discipline and commitment in the interests of the team, I may change my view. I hated the decision to give arch-villain Diouf a job, but came round when he put in shift after shift without any spitting or tantrums. There’s much atoning and grafting to be done before I favourably compare Liam C. with D. Batty, V. Jones and N. Hunter. Enough on that.
With Jansson back, and the extra talent in midfield forwards, I can’t wait to see them all in action in our reclaimed, acclaimed, packed stadium on Saturday. I’m excited to see if there will be three or four regular scorers this season, after the talent-selling and parsimony of previous owners left us relying on McCormack one whole season, and Wood last term. I’d love to see Phillips become the next Snodgrass or Howson. This feels like the strongest, best-balanced team we’ve had since the exhilarating first week or two of the season when Gradel arrived, days before Bates took the wind out of our sails by selling Beckford ! One certainty with Rad. is that he won’t be selling Wood, unless of course PSG need back-up for Neymar !
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