Dan James: How the new £25m man fits in at Leeds United

The Hull-born Wales winger saw a move from Swansea City collapse on deadline day in January 2019, painfully captured by the cameras of an Amazon Prime documentary crew.

But Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Manchester United has allowed Leeds to finally get their man, giving Marcelo Bielsa attacking options he has never previously had at Elland Road.

James joins for a fee in the region of £25m having kept tracking the now-23-year-old since he moved to Old Trafford two summers ago. As his international manager Robert Page put it, “He’s got himself a move to a club that wants him.

“We all like confidence and being told we’re doing well.”

A week ago, the Red Devils had little interest in letting James leave. As recently as Sunday afternoon Bielsa said he was not expecting any further transfer business in this window but the surprise signing of Ronaldo changed the landscape, overloading Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s attacking ranks and opening the door to Leeds, who fought off interest from a number of rival Premier League clubs.

James’s Old Trafford career never lived up to its blistering start, as demonstrated by the fact half the six Premier League goals he scored for them came in the first 20 days. He started the first game of this season, against Leeds, and the most recent, at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but was substituted in both.

But James showed at the European Championship with Wales he has the qualities to perform at the top level of the game, and he clearly has the trust of Bielsa.

“As a player we feel Daniel is an exceelent for for a Marcelo Bielsa team,” said director of football Victor Orta. “He is quick, direct and works hard - we look forward to him joining up with the squad, finally!”

So where does James fit in?

Marcelo Bielsa is a coach who likes working with a small squad but the £25m arrival of Dan James gives him attacking options he has never had at Leeds United.

The departure of Ian Poveda to Blackburn Rovers on loan left the Whites looking a bit light in the wide positions earlier this month, now they will have little choice but to have a big-name player on a bench which at Burnley on Sunday was desperately light of experience.

Jack Harrison, who joined permanently in the summer after three loans from Manchester City, and Raphinha have become must-picks but Helder Costa, who has never really convinced as a Premier League player, was the only senior cover.

Nineteen-year-old Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville has been an unused substitute in every match this season, but is yet to make his debut.

Harrison, Raphinha and James are versatile attacking players, offering different possibilities tactically. Predominantly a left-winger, Bielsa has said in the past Harrison could play at centre-forward (he did in the second half of January’s FA Cup defeat at Crawley Town but the game was not a good advert for any Leeds player involved), and Raphinha’s natural instincts to drift inside point to him as potential No 10, though it is something his coach has played down. Manchester United used James in all the front three positions.

Playing Raphinha at No 10 would relegate club record signing Rodrigo to the bench.

Bielsa was very strong in his defence of the Spaniard’s first year as a Leeds player last week but there is no doubt it has disappointed and Rodrigo’s appearance at Burnley did nothing to change that perception.

Bielsa teams often pick themselves but once James is fully integrated into his way of thinking, there could be an interesting battle for the attacking positions.