Leeds United moved closer to the top two in the Championship with an impressive 2-0 win over Sheffield United at Elland Road on Friday night.
Goals from Pascal Struijk and Mateo Joseph in the second half secured all three points for the home side, ending a run of six straight clean sheets for the Blades.
The Whites are now third in the division and are pushing to return to the Premier League at the second time of asking, after Daniel Farke’s side lost in the play-off final last season.
There is one former Leeds player, meanwhile, who is currently thriving in the top-flight. Central midfielder Lewis Cook was once a promising young talent at Elland Road and is now a star for Bournemouth.
The fee Leeds received for Lewis Cook
In the summer of 2016, Bournemouth swooped to sign the young midfielder from the Whites for a reported fee of £6m, ahead of their 2016/17 campaign in the Premier League under Eddie Howe.
They moved to snap up the English maestro after he had emerged through the academy set-up at Leeds and established himself as a first-team player.
Cook made 85 appearances across two seasons for the West Yorkshire-based outfit in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 campaigns, after coming up through the youth sides at Thorp Arch.
The right-footed dynamo had scored one goal and provided two assists in 43 matches in the Championship in his second and final season in the first-team, as Bournemouth swooped for his services after that.
How Lewis Cook is now thriving in the Premier League
Journalist Daniel Storey recently claimed that the midfielder is “in the form of his life” after bouncing back from two ACL injuries to become a key figure in Andoni Iraola’s current team.
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Between the 2016/17 and 2022/23 campaigns, Cook missed a whopping 151 matches through injury – 71 through the two ACL blows and 80 because of an ankle injury.
The one-time England international, who was once hailed as “impressive” by former boss Howe, has battled back from those problems and has not missed a match through injury since the start of last season.
Cook featured in 33 of Bournemouth’s 38 Premier League games in the 2023/24 campaign and created three ‘big chances’, whilst also averaging 3.8 tackles and interceptions per game.
Appearances
8
Sofascore rating
7.23
Big chances created
3
Key passes
16
Tackles and interceptions per game
4.5
Duels won per game
4.3
As you can see in the table above, the 27-year-old star has enjoyed a terrific start to the current season with the Cherries, improving his output creatively and defensively.
He has already matched his tally for ‘big chances’ created in just eight games, with three, and is averaging 0.7 more tackles and interceptions combined per match.
This shows that the English gem offers a creative and combative presence in the middle of the park for the Premier League side, with his form impressive enough for Storey to post that it is the best in his career.
Leeds may now regret cashing in on him for just £6m in 2016, as he is now worth €12m (£10m) – as per Transfermarkt – and this shows that his value has soared as he has emerged as a quality option in the Premier League.
Hopefully, Cook will now remain fit and continue to impress in midfield for Bournemouth, and push to return to the England fold under Thomas Tuchel.
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