# 2017–18 Leeds United F.C. season

The 2017–18 season was Leeds United's eighth consecutive season in the Championship.

## Season summary

Hopes of improving on Leeds' play-off near-miss the previous season took an early blow when manager Garry Monk left to take over at newly-relegated Middlesbrough, leaving new owner Andrea Radrizzani to appoint Thomas Christiansen as his successor. Their promotion aspirations took another blow when Chris Wood, their top scorer in both of the previous two seasons, refused to sign a new contract and then, a few weeks into the campaign, announced that he would not play for the club again, ultimately resulting in his sale to Premier League Burnley. This, and the injury crisis hanging over from the previous season, forced Christiansen to make a large amount of new signings over the summer, leaving concerns as to whether or not the team could gel quickly enough.
Despite all this, the club had what, in the early stages at least, was an even better campaign than the previous one, with the club topping the Championship for the early months of the season. A slump in form in October was turned around in the following months, and Leeds entered the new year looking in a strong position to challenge for promotion. However, a failure to win any games in January (including a humiliating FA Cup exit to League Two side Newport County), combined with rumours of unrest in the dressing room, saw Christiansen sacked at the start of February, and replaced by Paul Heckingbottom, manager of Yorkshire rivals Barnsley. If anything, however, the loss of form that had started under Christiansen accelerated under Heckingbottom, and Leeds only won four more games all season, two of them coming in the last three matches alone, leaving Leeds with the unenviable record of having earned fewer points than any team except for bottom-placed Sunderland after Christmas. Many fans were left disillusioned by this turn of events, convinced that the previous season had been a false dawn, and that Leeds were back to the pattern of mid-table mediocrity with occasional struggles against relegation that had mostly marked the 2010s.

## First-team squad
### Squad information

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | Since | App | Goals | Ends | Transfer fee | Notes |
| 1 | GK | Andy Lonergan | 34 | 2011 2017 | 48 | 0 | 2012 2019 | Free | |
| 2 | DF | Luke Ayling | 26 | 2016 | 79 | 0 | 2021 | £750,000 | |
| 4 | MF | Adam Forshaw | 26 | 2018 | 5 | 0 | 2022 | £4,500,000 | |
| 5 | DF | Matthew Pennington | 23 | 2017 | 15 | 0 | 2018 | Loan | On loan from Everton |
| 6 | DF | Liam Cooper | 26 | 2014 | 122 | 3 | 2021 | £600,000 | Team captain |
| 7 | MF | Kemar Roofe | 25 | 2016 | 87 | 17 | 2020 | £3,000,000 | |
| 8 | MF | Vurnon Anita | 29 | 2017 | 23 | 0 | 2020 | Free | |
| 9 | FW | Pierre-Michel Lasogga | 26 | 2017 | 30 | 13 | 2018 | Loan | On loan from Hamburg |
| 10 | MF | Ezgjan Alioski | 26 | 2017 | 41 | 7 | 2021 | £3,200,000 | |
| 11 | FW | Jay-Roy Grot | 20 | 2017 | 22 | 0 | 2021 | £750,000 | |
| 12 | FW | Marcus Antonsson | 27 | 2016 | 21 | 3 | 2019 | £1,600,000 | On loan to Blackburn Rovers |
| 12 | LB | Laurens De Bock | 25 | 2018 | 6 | 0 | 2022 | £1,500,000 | |
| 13 | GK | Felix Wiedwald | 28 | 2017 | 34 | 0 | 2020 | £500,000 | |
| 14 | MF | Eunan O'Kane | 27 | 2016 | 57 | 0 | 2021 | £1,000,000 | |
| 15 | MF | Stuart Dallas | 27 | 2015 | 113 | 11 | 2020 | £1,300,000 | |
| 17 | FW | Tyler Roberts | 19 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2022 | £2,500,000 | |
| 18 | DF | Pontus Jansson | 27 | 2016 | 71 | 5 | 2020 | £3,600,000 | |
| 19 | MF | Pablo Hernández | 33 | 2016 | 77 | 14 | 2018 | Free | |
| 21 | MF | Samuel Sáiz | 27 | 2017 | 32 | 10 | 2021 | £3,100,000 | |
| 22 | FW | Paweł Cibicki | 24 | 2017 | 11 | 0 | 2021 | £1,500,000 | |
| 23 | MF | Kalvin Phillips | 22 | 2014 | 90 | 9 | 2021 | Youth system | |
| 24 | FW | Hadi Sacko | 24 | 2016 | 56 | 8 | 2020 | £1,600,000 | |
| 25 | MF | Ronaldo Vieira | 19 | 2016 | 64 | 2 | 2021 | Youth system | |
| 28 | DF | Gaetano Berardi | 29 | 2014 | 111 | 1 | 2020 | £250,000 | |
| 29 | MF | Madger Gomes | 21 | 2017 | 2 | 0 | 2020 | Free | |
| 30 | GK | Bailey Peacock-Farrell | 21 | 2015 | 1 | 0 | 2020 | Youth system | |
| 31 | DF | Lewie Coyle | 22 | 2014 | 23 | 0 | 2020 | Youth system | On loan to Fleetwood Town |
| 33 | DF | Tyler Denton | 22 | 2016 | 3 | 1 | 2020 | Youth system | |
| 35 | MF | Conor Shaughnessy | 22 | 2017 | 17 | 0 | 2021 | Youth system | |
| 36 | FW | Mallik Wilks | 19 | 2017 | 1 | 0 | 2019 | Youth system | On loan to Grimsby Town |
| 37 | DF | Paudie O'Connor | 20 | 2017 | 0 | 0 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| 43 | MF | Mateusz Klich | 28 | 2017 | 11 | 0 | 2020 | £1,500,000 | On loan to Utrecht |
| 40 | MF | Romario Vieira | 19 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2018 | Youth system | |
| 45 | FW | Caleb Ekuban | 24 | 2017 | 10 | 1 | 2021 | £500,000 | |
| 46 | DF | Tom Pearce | 20 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2018 | Youth system | |
| 47 | FW | Jack Clarke | 17 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2021 | Youth system | |
| 48 | DF | Liam Kitching | 18 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| 49 | DF | Oriol Rey | 20 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| | MF | Ouasim Bouy | 25 | 2017 | 0 | 0 | 2021 | Free | |
| | MF | Luke Murphy | 28 | 2013 | 111 | 7 | 2019 | £1,000,000 | On loan to Burton Albion |
| | MF | Yosuke Ideguchi | 21 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 2022 | £500,000 | On loan to Cultural Leonesa |
* Last updated: 1 March 2018
* Source: Players' wikipedia articles, Leeds United
* Ordered by squad number.
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in the Championship (and playoffs), League One (and playoffs), FA Cup, League Cup and Football League Trophy.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2017 | CM | Madger Gomes | Liverpool | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | CB | Pontus Jansson | Torino | £3,600,000 |
| 1 July 2017 | CM | Mateusz Klich | FC Twente | £1,500,000 |
| 1 July 2017 | RW | Hadi Sacko | Sporting CP | £1,600,000 |
| 1 July 2017 | GK | Felix Wiedwald | Werder Bremen | £500,000 |
| 6 July 2017 | DM | Vurnon Anita | Newcastle United | Free |
| 11 July 2017 | CF | Caleb Ekuban | Chievo Verona | £500,000 |
| 13 July 2017 | AM | Samuel Sáiz | SD Huesca | £3,100,000 |
| 13 July 2017 | RW | Ezgjan Alioski | FC Lugano | £3,200,000 |
| 2 August 2017 | CM | Ouasim Bouy | Juventus | Free |
| 23 August 2017 | CF | Jay-Roy Grot | NEC Nijmegen | £750,000 |
| 27 August 2017 | GK | Andy Lonergan | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | FW | Adrián Balboa | UD Unificacion Bellvitge | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | CF | Paweł Cibicki | Malmö | £1,500,000 |
| 31 August 2017 | MF | Hugo Díaz | SD Huesca | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | RB | Bryce Hosannah | Crystal Palace | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | CM | Alejandro Machuca | Rayo Vallecano | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | CB | Oriol Rey | Barcelona | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | FW | Ousama Siddiki | Real Madrid | Free |
| 31 August 2017 | CF | Kun Temenuzhkov | Barcelona | Undisclosed |
| 15 November 2017 | FW | Ryan Edmondson | York City | Undisclosed |
| 3 January 2018 | CB | Aapo Halme | HJK Helsinki | Undisclosed |
| 9 January 2018 | CM | Yosuke Ideguchi | Gamba Osaka | £500,000 |
| 11 January 2018 | LB | Laurens De Bock | Club Brugge | £1,500,000 |
| 11 January 2018 | FW | Oliver Sarkic | Benfica | Undisclosed |
| 18 January 2018 | CM | Adam Forshaw | Middlesbrough | £4,500,000 |
| 23 January 2018 | ST | Sam Dalby | Leyton Orient | Undisclosed |
| 29 January 2018 | CB | Pascal Struijk | Ajax | Undisclosed |
| 31 January 2018 | CF | Tyler Roberts | West Brom | £2,500,000 |
| 31 January 2018 | RW | Jordan Stevens | Forest Green | Undisclosed |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2017 | RW | Jordan Botaka | Sint-Truiden | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | CM | Alex Purver | Guiseley | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | LB | Charlie Taylor | Burnley | £6,000,000 (compensation) |
| 1 July 2017 | GK | Ross Turnbull | Free agent | Released |
| 1 July 2017 | CB | Jack Vann | Harrogate Town | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | LW | Billy Whitehouse | Tadcaster Albion | Free |
| 18 July 2017 | CB | Giuseppe Bellusci | US Palermo | Free |
| 19 July 2017 | GK | Marco Silvestri | Hellas Verona | Undisclosed |
| 28 July 2017 | CF | Lee Erwin | Kilmarnock | Undisclosed |
| 21 August 2017 | CF | Chris Wood | Burnley | £15,000,000 |
| 22 August 2017 | DM | Liam Bridcutt | Nottingham Forest | £1,000,000 |
| 23 August 2017 | FW | Souleymane Doukara | Osmanlıspor | Free |
| 25 August 2017 | DM | Toumani Diagouraga | Plymouth Argyle | Free |
| 27 August 2017 | GK | Robert Green | Huddersfield Town | Free |
| 17 December 2017 | CF | Jack McKay | Free agent | Released |
| 17 December 2017 | CB | Paul McKay | Free agent | Released |
| 1 February 2018 | AM | Eoghan Stokes | Free agent | Released |
* ↑ Jordan Botaka joined Sint-Truiden following his release.
* ↑ Alex Purver joined Guiseley joined Guiseley following his release.
* ↑ Charlie Taylor joined Burnley following his departure. Burnley subsequently paid Leeds between £6m and £7m in compensation since Taylor was under 24.
* ↑ Billy Whitehouse joined Alfreton Town following his release.
* ↑ The fee paid for Wood could rise to £18m depending on appearances.
* ↑ Toumani Diagouraga joined Plymouth Argyle following his departure.
* ↑ Robert Green joined Huddersfield Town following his departure.

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Name | From | End date |
| 19 July 2017 | CB | Matthew Pennington | Everton | 30 June 2018 |
| 7 August 2017 | LB | Cameron Borthwick-Jackson | Manchester United | 16 January 2018 |
| 31 August 2017 | CF | Pierre-Michel Lasogga | Hamburg | 30 June 2018 |
| 8 September 2017 | CF | Oliver Sarkic | Benfica | 31 December 2017 |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date |
| 3 July 2017 | CM | Luke Murphy | Burton Albion | 30 June 2018 |
| 4 July 2017 | DF | Lewie Coyle | Fleetwood Town | 30 June 2018 |
| 2 August 2017 | CM | Ouasim Bouy | Cultural Leonesa | 3 January 2018 |
| 7 August 2017 | LB | Tyler Denton | Port Vale | 3 January 2018 |
| 11 August 2017 | CF | Marcus Antonsson | Blackburn Rovers | 30 June 2018 |
| 24 August 2017 | CF | Mallik Wilks | Accrington Stanley | 3 January 2018 |
| 12 October 2017 | GK | Bailey Peacock-Farrell | York City | 9 November 2017 |
| 9 January 2018 | CM | Yosuke Ideguchi | Cultural Leonesa | 30 June 2018 |
| 22 January 2018 | CM | Mateusz Klich | Utrecht | 30 June 2018 |
| 26 January 2018 | CF | Mallik Wilks | Grimsby Town | 30 June 2018 |

## Pre-season

Leeds United had announced six pre-season friendlies against Harrogate Town, Guiseley, North Ferriby United, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Oxford United and Eibar. Another friendly was scheduled against Ingolstadt, which was cancelled by local government officials in Kufstein, Austria. Instead, the club arranged a behind-closed-doors friendly in Italy with Bursaspor. The Turkish team divulged details and a video of the match to the public.

### Post-season

On 24 April, Leeds United announced a post-season tour of Myanmar.

## Competitions
### Championship
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 11 | Bristol City | 46 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 67 | 58 | +9 | 67 |
| 12 | Ipswich Town | 46 | 17 | 9 | 20 | 57 | 60 | −3 | 60 |
| 13 | Leeds United | 46 | 17 | 9 | 20 | 59 | 64 | −5 | 60 |
| 14 | Norwich City | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 49 | 60 | −11 | 60 |
| 15 | Sheffield Wednesday | 46 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 59 | 60 | −1 | 57 |

#### Result summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 3 April 2018. Source:

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | L | L | L | W | L | W | D | W | W | W | W | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | D | D | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | D | L | L | W | L | W |
| Position | 3 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 13 |

#### Matches

On 21 June, the Championship fixtures were released.

### FA Cup

Leeds United were drawn away to Newport County in the third round.

### EFL Cup

Leeds United were drawn at home against Port Vale in the first round, at home against Newport County in the second round, away to Burnley in the third round and away to Leicester City in the fourth round.

## Statistics
### Appearances

| | | | | Total | Total | Total | Total | Championship | Championship | FA Cup | FA Cup | EFL Cup | EFL Cup | |
| N | Pos. | Name | Nat. | GS | App | Gls | Min | App | Gls | App | Gls | App | Gls | Notes |
| 1 | GK | Andy Lonergan | | 9 | 9 | | 840 | 7 | | 1 | | 1 | | |
| 1 | GK | Robert Green | | 1 | 1 | | 90 | | | | | 1 | | left club 27 August 2017 |
| 2 | DF | Luke Ayling | | 29 | 30 | | 2601 | 26 | | | | 4 | | |
| 3 | DF | Cameron Borthwick-Jackson | | 5 | 6 | | 427 | 1 | | 1 | | 4 | | left club 16 January 2018 |
| 4 | MF | Adam Forshaw | | 5 | 5 | | 450 | 5 | | | | | | |
| 5 | DF | Matthew Pennington | | 8 | 15 | | 795 | 15 | | | | | | |
| 6 | DF | Liam Cooper | | 26 | 28 | 1 | 2245 | 26 | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | |
| 7 | FW | Kemar Roofe | | 25 | 33 | 12 | 2252 | 30 | 9 | | | 3 | 3 | |
| 8 | DF | Vurnon Anita | | 15 | 18 | | 1349 | 14 | | 1 | | 3 | | |
| 9 | FW | Pierre-Michel Lasogga | | 18 | 24 | 10 | 1618 | 22 | 10 | 1 | | 1 | | |
| 9 | FW | Chris Wood | | 3 | 3 | 1 | 270 | 3 | 1 | | | | | left club 21 August 2017 |
| 10 | MF | Ezgjan Alioski | | 30 | 34 | 5 | 2450 | 31 | 5 | | | 3 | | |
| 11 | FW | Jay-Roy Grot | | 3 | 17 | | 393 | 14 | | 1 | | 2 | | |
| 12 | DF | Laurens De Bock | | 6 | 6 | | 540 | 6 | | | | | | |
| 13 | GK | Felix Wiedwald | | 29 | 29 | | 2610 | 27 | | | | 2 | | |
| 14 | MF | Eunan O'Kane | | 22 | 26 | | 1885 | 26 | | | | | | |
| 15 | MF | Stuart Dallas | | 9 | 23 | 2 | 1173 | 20 | 2 | | | 3 | | |
| 18 | DF | Pontus Jansson | | 31 | 32 | 2 | 2745 | 31 | 2 | | | 1 | | |
| 19 | MF | Pablo Hernández | | 26 | 33 | 6 | 2256 | 31 | 4 | | | 2 | 2 | |
| 21 | MF | Samuel Sáiz | | 22 | 27 | 9 | 2060 | 24 | 5 | 1 | | 2 | 4 | |
| 22 | FW | Paweł Cibicki | | 8 | 10 | | 621 | 7 | | 1 | | 2 | | |
| 23 | MF | Kalvin Phillips | | 30 | 33 | 5 | 2630 | 31 | 5 | 1 | | 1 | | |
| 24 | FW | Hadi Sacko | | 2 | 17 | 1 | 466 | 13 | | 1 | | 3 | 1 | |
| 25 | MF | Ronaldo Vieira | | 18 | 23 | 1 | 15921 | 19 | | | | 4 | 1 | |
| 26 | MF | Liam Bridcutt | | | 1 | | 32 | | | | | 1 | | left club 22 August 2017 |
| 28 | DF | Gaetano Berardi | | 24 | 26 | 1 | 2132 | 24 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | |
| 29 | MF | Madger Gomes | | 1 | 2 | | 110 | | | | | 2 | | |
| 35 | DF | Conor Shaughnessy | | 10 | 14 | | 956 | 9 | | 1 | | 4 | | |
| 38 | FW | Eoghan Stokes | | 1 | 1 | | 66 | | | | | 1 | | left club 1 February 2018 |
| 43 | MF | Mateusz Klich | | 6 | 9 | | 579 | 4 | | 1 | | 4 | | |
| 45 | FW | Caleb Ekuban | | 6 | 10 | 1 | 478 | 9 | | | | 1 | 1 | |