Tyler Adams: Future Leeds Captain?

Eyebrows were raised when Leeds, fresh from their last-gasp survival, were quick to cash in on the influential Kalvin Phillips. The England star’s summer sale to Premier League champions Manchester City for a reported £45 million looked a steal for Pep Guardiola’s side at the time: a combative Fernandinho replacement with the added bonus of fine vision and long-range passing, as well as important home-grown player status.

For the Whites, however, the poster boy of the Marcelo Bielsa-era had left just months after his former manager and mentor, meaning the club’s summer rebuild had gone from a few signings to complement the existing eleven to a complete squad overhaul. Since American manager Jesse Marsch had replaced his Argentine predecessor, Phillips, in truth, had struggled to get to grips with the new Red Bull style, playing as the ball winner alongside another deep-lying midfielder, rather than as the single pivot enforcer protecting the defence and distributing the ball quickly to the flanks.

Two additions for the starting midfield were a necessity then and the club moved quickly, landing the signatures of RB Leipzig’s Tyler Adams and Marc Roca from their Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich. For all the latter’s wonderful array of passing, the Spaniard lacked the agility and physicality to fit the Phillips' mould, and that responsibility would land on the shoulders of USMNT star Adams: a man that Marsch knew all too well. A product of the New York Red Bulls system, Adams had been handed his debut by his compatriot in a friendly against Chelsea, scoring the MLS outfit’s second in a 4-2 win over the English champions.

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