It is a new year and with it comes a wave of promotion hope for Leeds United.
While 2024 was not as much of a horror show as preceding years for Leeds, they still fell short of their ambition of being a Premier League club and so they will continue to chase that goal with fresh energy.
Daniel Farke’s team have shown they have what it takes to sustain last season’s remarkable form and results — could 2025 be the year they get back to where they belong?
The Athletic digests a year of highs and lows in 2024 for Leeds United.
Best moment
There have been plenty of moments for Leeds to celebrate in the past 12 months, but the moment of blissful ecstasy after Archie Gray’s goal to make it 2-1 against Leicester City in February is a standout.
At the time, it felt like a ‘winner-goes-up’ scenario and, after going a goal behind, United fought back to a 3-1 win in the end. Never mind the fact that Farke’s team failed to get promoted in the end or that the mean men in suits at the dubious goals panel took the goal off Gray because it took a big deflection off Wout Faes.
Gray after his ‘goal’ against Leicester (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
In that glorious moment, limbs flailing and a 17-year-old Leeds academy product having a standout season as he scored (what should have been) his first goal for the club, the joy of football took hold in its purest form.
Worst moment
It would be easy to look at the players in white slumped on the ground after defeat by Southampton in the play-off final at Wembley as the lowest moment of 2024, but everyone knew Leeds and the play-offs do not mix.
Much more bruising than that was the summer fire sales that saw a competitive and entertaining team torn apart and rebuilt — partly out of necessity but also because of the realities of staying in the Championship. Losing Gray to Tottenham Hotspur after one electric season hurt most of all.
Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter felt inevitable exits, but Leeds sold one of their own and a player with deep family ties who had the potential to lead the team for years to come. Football is a brutal business.
Best game
Leeds 3-1 Leicester definitely gets a nod, but another big night under the lights at Elland Road was Farke’s side at their flowing finest. Leeds 4-0 Norwich City in the second leg of the play-off semi-final had everything. A cracking atmosphere, the manager coming up against his former club and an absolute dismantling of the opponent by some of the most talented players in the Championship to send Leeds to Wembley.
The hurt that followed will make promotion — if Leeds can pull it off — all the sweeter. But for a few days in the build-up to the trip to Wembley, that win over Norwich kept the dream alive.
Best player — Willy Gnonto
In a supporting but still crucial role last season, Gnonto is now at the forefront for Leeds in their race for promotion. While Summerville shone brightly in the second half of the 2023-24 season and Pascal Struijk has been crucial to the start of this season, Gnonto has been excellent across both campaigns.
The 21-year-old — and it is easy to forget he is still so young — has provided regular goals and assists in 2024 and has the chance to be Farke’s leading man this season. That Gnonto found a way back with Leeds fans after pushing to leave at the start of last season is a testament to his application and talent.
Always a danger when cutting in from the wing, Gnonto is a player of Premier League quality in a side that wants to see the back of the Championship.
Gnonto has been a key figure in the last 12 months (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
The stat that sums up 2024
Sadly it is ’90 points’. Farke mentions last season’s point tally at least once a fortnight and it is easy to understand why: last season’s mammoth effort in the promotion race was unprecedented and yet it still was not enough for Leeds.
Matching or beating that tally will almost certainly see them go up automatically this year and then Farke can finally forget that number and the way last season ended.
Favourite quote
From Farke on Manor Solomon’s early season form: “Sometimes like a bottle of ketchup, you shake it and you want it too much and all of a sudden it happens… I’m pretty sure it will happen soon. Keep in mind a bottle of ketchup.”
Did that really happen?
Two words: Red Bull. In football circles, the energy drink manufacturer’s involvement at your club sparks fear — and for Leeds fans that was no different. The hostile reception to Red Bull coming on board as sponsors with a shareholding in the club has cooled since then but you will not have to speak to many supporters before finding one who still has reservations.
The rumours had been there for so long that it seemed as if English football would consistently bat away any interest from Red Bull, but Leeds are unique and have entered a new era.
Player to watch in 2025
For a player with the potential to have a very high ceiling: Mateo Joseph. If we interpret the phrase ‘one to watch’ literally: Ao Tanaka.
Joseph could be a star of the future at Elland Road (Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
Joseph has come into his own in 2024 by carving out a place as a starter in Farke’s team, so expect him to keep climbing in 2025. But to watch Tanaka up close is a masterclass in how to run the show in midfield with deft touches of the ball and sprayed passes from impossible angles.
Watching the Japan international in his flow is a delight — expect Tanaka and Joseph to play key roles in the promotion race and beyond.
A wish for 2025
For opponents to turn up and have a go at Leeds. It is unlikely to happen because enough teams have had joy from sitting in a low block and frustrating United in the past 12 months, but some of the most entertaining fixtures have come from sides taking Leeds on.
It is not to say that pressing high and getting after Farke’s team results in defeat, either. Swansea City nearly pulled it off in the entertaining 4-3 win this season and Middlesbrough (Carabao Cup) and Portsmouth (3-3 on the opening day) had joy.
As a spectacle, open games are much more fun and get the best out of the crowd at Elland Road in particular.
(Top photo: Tanaka and Farke. Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
