Leeds United defender Pontus Jansson has revealed how close he came to exiting Elland Road this summer, with clear interest from Russian side Krasnodar almost turning his head.

The 27-year old spent some of the summer on World Cup duty with Sweden, but he spoke of the offer made by the Russian Premier League side, and why he opted to stay at Elland Road.

“It just did not feel right," he told Fotbollskanalen. "I’ll be a dad in a month so I weighed it all up. Clearly there was a lot of money and I could have secured my future, but the sports team with Leeds and Bielsa weighed over it. But it was not an easy decision.”

He revealed that part of his reason was the failure to succeed last season and his desire to put things right with the Leeds fans.

“Krasnodar wanted to replace ‘Gran’ (Andreas Granqvist) with me. It was very close, I thought about it, but I did not feel right. I wanted to finish with Leeds. I had a heavy season with the team last year and I didn’t want to finish the love like that.”

Jansson joined Leeds, initially on loan, from Torino in 2016. He made the switch permanent last summer and played 42 Championship games under two managers before Marcelo Bielsa arrived.

He's made 76 Championship starts in total for Leeds, with three further outings coming as a sub, two of which have been this season.

The Verdict

This is great news for Leeds fans, it shows the Swede feels there's unfinished business at Elland Road and that he believes in the new regime.

He's not finding it easy to force a start though. He did play against Norwich, but dropped back to the bench for the Middlesbrough draw. It's expected he will force his way into the first team, but there's such intense competition now he won't have it all his own way.

[ad_pod ]