Leeds United F.C. Under-21s and Academy

For other uses, see Leeds United (disambiguation).

Leeds United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Leeds United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team.

Leeds United Under-21s

Full name	Leeds United Football Club Under-21s
Nickname(s)	The Whites
Founded	1919 (1919)
Ground	Thorp Arch
Capacity	N/A
Owner	49ers Enterprises
Chairman	Paraag Marathe
Manager	Scott Gardner
League	Premier League 2
2023–24	Premier League 2, 24th of 26
Website	leedsunited.com
Home colours Away colours

As of the 2023–24 season, they play in the Premier League 2 : Division 1, the top tier of the Professional Development League, following promotion from Division 2 of the 2022–23 Professional U21 Development League.^[1]

History

The under-23s replaced the club's under-21 team in 2016, which had replaced the reserve team in 2012 following the English game's reform of the youth football and the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan. The club was initially awarded Category Two status but upgraded to Category One in 2020.^[2]

Player eligibility

For the 2025–26 season player eligibility is restricted to under-21 players born after 1 January 2004. Only players born after 1 January 2007 (primarily scholars), are eligible to play for the Under 18s.

Current players

Italics denotes player has received a call up to the international age group squad but did not or has yet to receive a cap at that level.

Young Professionals
Nat.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Pos.	International	Other
	Robbie Cook	Australia	(2007-01-27) 27 January 2007 (age 18)	GK
	Rory Mahady	Kirkcaldy, Scotland	(2006-08-16) 16 August 2006 (age 19)	GK	Scotland U21s
	Darryl Ombang	Leeds, England	(2005-07-11) 11 July 2005 (age 20)	GK	England U17s
	Alfie Cresswell	England	(2007-07-14) 14 July 2007 (age 18)	DF
	James Debayo	Hillingdon, London, England	(2005-08-10) 10 August 2005 (age 20)	DF	England U18s
	Louis Enahoro-Marcus	Benin City, Nigeria	(2006-09-06) 6 September 2006 (age 18)	DF
	Jayden Lienou	Wigan, England	(2008-04-08) 8 April 2008 (age 17)	DF	Wales U18s
	Reuben Lopata-White	Bradford, England	(2005-09-26) 26 September 2005 (age 19)	DF
	Rhys Chadwick	England	(2007-02-19) 19 February 2007 (age 18)	MF
	Sam Chambers	Huddersfield, England	(2007-03-10) 10 March 2007 (age 18)	MF	Scotland U19s
	Connor Douglas	Leeds, England	(2005-10-08) 8 October 2005 (age 19)	MF
	Darko Gyabi	Catford, London, England	(2004-02-18) 18 February 2004 (age 21)	MF	England U21s
	Josh McDonald	Scotland	(2007-03-06) 6 March 2007 (age 18)	MF	Scotland U17s
	Lewis Pirie	Scotland	(2007-01-28) 28 January 2007 (age 18)	FW	Scotland U17s
	Marley Wilson	Leeds, England	(2005-11-07) 7 November 2005 (age 19)	FW	England U15s
2024–25 Out on Loan
	Charlie Crew	Cardiff, Wales	(2006-06-15) 15 June 2006 (age 19)	MF	Wales	Doncaster Rovers
2024–25 2nd Year Scholars
	Alex Baird	England	(2007-08-01) 1 August 2007 (age 18)	GK	England U15s
	Coban Bird	Pontefract, England	(2006-11-05) 5 November 2006 (age 18)	DF
	Devon Brockie	England	(2007-03-11) 11 March 2007 (age 18)	MF	Scotland U16s
	Harvey Vincent	England	(2007-03-20) 20 March 2007 (age 18)	MF	England U16s
2024–25 1st Year Scholars
	Louie Dudley	England	(2007-11-13) 13 November 2007 (age 17)	DF
	Will Firth	Australia	(2007-09-11) 11 September 2007 (age 17)	DF
	Josh Hamilton	England	(2007-09-15) 15 September 2007 (age 17)	DF	England U17s
	George Kenyon	England	(2008-03-23) 23 March 2008 (age 17)	GK
	Freddie Lane	England	(2007-09-24) 24 September 2007 (age 17)	MF
	Luke Matykiewicz	England	(2007-09-02) 2 September 2007 (age 17)	DF	Northern Ireland U18s
	Jack Morris	England	(2008-01-25) 25 January 2008 (age 17)	DF
	Oliver Pickles	England	(2007-10-11) 11 October 2007 (age 17)	MF
	Jacob Render	England	(2008-03-20) 20 March 2008 (age 17)	MF
	Elton Simo	England	(2008-06-11) 11 June 2008 (age 17)	MF
Notable Others
	Sam Alker	England	(2009-03-13) 13 March 2009 (age 16)	MF	England U16s
	Oliver Boast	England	(2009-05-07) 7 May 2009 (age 16)	FW	England U16s
	Harry Gray	England	(2008-10-08) 8 October 2008 (age 16)	FW	England U17s
	Jacob Howard	England	(2009-03-29) 29 March 2009 (age 16)	DF	England U16s
	Kenneth Mensah	England		FW	Italy U16s
	Marlon Mensah	England		MF	Austria U15s
	Oliver Wood	England		GK

Graduates

The following list includes players who have graduated from Leeds' youth system to make their senior debut for the first team. Players who have represented their national team at senior level are highlighted in bold.^[3][4]

• Harry Kewell
• Jamie McMaster
• Kun Temenuzhkov
• Tomi Ameobi
• Neil Aspin
• Lewis Bate
• Mick Bates
• David Batty
• Rod Belfitt
• Jason Blunt
• Rob Bowman
• Aiden Butterworth
• Sam Byram
• Alex Cairns
• Scott Carson
• Oliver Casey
• Jack Charlton
• Jack Clarke
• Terry Connor
• Lewis Cook
• Terry Cooper
• Andy Couzens
• Lewie Coyle
• Charlie Cresswell
• Leif Davis
• James Debayo
• Fabian Delph
• Tyler Denton
• Cody Drameh
• Ryan Edmondson
• Tom Elliott
• Gareth Evans
• Mark Ford
• Jamie Forrester
• Scott Gardner
• Robbie Gotts
• Archie Gray
• Harry Gray
• Simon Grayson
• Jimmy Greenhoff
• Sam Greenwood
• Tony Hackworth
• Grenville Hair
• Peter Hampton
• Terry Hibbitt
• Jonny Howson
• Will Huffer
• Norman Hunter
• Mark Jackson
• Jack Jenkins
• Simon Johnson
• Matthew Kilgallon
• Tom Lees
• Aaron Lennon
• John Lukic
• Paul Madeley
• Lee Matthews
• James Milner
• Alex Mowatt
• Ben Parker
• Tom Pearce
• Kalvin Phillips
• Paul Robinson
• Paul Reaney
• Frazer Richardson
• Scott Sellars
• Jamie Shackleton
• Kevin Sharp
• Paul Shepherd
• Alan Smith
• Peter Swan
• Charlie Taylor
• Mark Tinkler
• Ronaldo Vieira
• Simon Walton
• Noel Whelan
• Mallik Wilks
• Jonathan Woodgate
• Clarke Oduor
• Pascal Struijk
• Wesley Boyle
• Alfie McCalmont
• Bailey Peacock-Farrell
• Tommy Knarvik
• Robert Bayly
• Ian Harte
• Denis Irwin
• Gary Kelly
• Andy Keogh
• Simon Madden
• Alan Maybury
• Stephen McPhail
• Terry Phelan
• John Sheridan
• Eoghan Stokes
• Aidy White
• Dominic Poleon
• Billy Bremner
• Sam Chambers
• Andy Gray
• Eddie Gray
• Frank Gray
• David Harvey
• Peter Lorimer
• Stuart McKinstry
• Martin Woods
• Tommy Wright
• Mateo Joseph
• John Charles
• Charlie Crew
• Chris Dawson
• Neil Edwards
• Carl Harris
• Niall Huggins
• Matthew Jones
• Gary Speed
• Gary Sprake
• Byron Stevenson
• Terry Yorath

Other Professionals

• Adam Berry
• Shane Cansdell-Sherriff
• Bobby Kamwa
• Daniel Batty
• James Baxendale
• David Brown
• Liam Darville
• Max Dean
• Kevin Dixon
• Matty Edwards
• Josh Falkingham
• Craig Farrell
• Martin Foster
• Luke Garbutt
• Ben Gordon
• Will Hatfield
• Sean Hessey
• Sam Hird
• Elliot Kebbie
• Nohan Kenneh
• Liam Kitching
• Nathan Lowndes
• Sean McGurk
• Tom Newey
• Paul Pettinger
• Jamie Price
• Danny Rose
• Neil Ross
• Gavin Rothery
• John Scales
• David Seaman
• Harpal Singh
• Matthew Smithard
• George Swan
• Tom Taiwo
• James Tavernier
• Danny Ward
• Michael Woods
• Adam Priestley
• Romario Vieira
• Warren Feeney
• Alan Cawley
• Barry Corr
• Caleb Folan
• Paul Keegan
• Damian Lynch
• Henry McStay
• Ian Morris
• Tom Cairney
• Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen
• Oli McBurnie
• Andrew Milne
• Kevin Smith
• Jamie Winter
• Chad Harpur
• Max McMillan
• Kevin Aherne-Evans
• Lawrence Davies
• Ryan Nicholls
• Craig Stiens
• Ethan Kachosa

Honours

Reserves

League

• The Central League (Tier 1) Winners (2): 1936–37, 1997–98
• The Central League, Division One East (Tier 2) Winners (2): 2008–09, 2009–10

Cup

• West Riding Senior Cup Winners (2): 1926–27, 1963–64

Under 23s

League

• Premier League 2 Division 2 Champions (1): 2020–21
• Professional Development League National Champions (1): 2018–19
• Professional Development League North Division Champions (1): 2018–19

Under 21s

Cup

• National League Cup Winners (1): 2024–25

Under 18s

League

• U18 Professional Development League North Division Champions (1): 2012–13
• U18 Professional Development League North Division Champions (1): 2017–18

Cup

• FA Youth Cup Winners (2): 1992–93, 1996–97

Under 17s

League

• FA Premier Academy League (Tier 1) Winners (1): 2002–03

Cup

• Milk Cup Winners (1): 2002

Academy coaching staff

Position	Staff
Academy Manager	Adam Underwood[5]
Head of Academy Coaching	Andy Foster
Head Of National Academy Recruitment	Lyndon Tomlinson
Head Of Emerging Talent	Craig Dean
Under 21s Manager	Paco Gallardo
Under 21s Coach	Michael Pujdak
Under 18s Manager	Scott Gardner
Under 18s Coach	Rob Etherington

Academy Directors

From	To	Name	Notes
1992	1997	Paul Hart
1998	2000	Alan Hill
1999	2000	Steve Beaglehole	Assistant
2000	2001	Brian Kidd
2000	2001	Clive Richards	Assistant
2001	2005	Gary Worthington	Assistant
2002	2004	Andy Ritchie
2004	2010	Neil Thompson
2009	2010	Daral Pugh	Assistant
2010	2011	Gwyn Williams	Acting
2011	2012	Chris Sulley
2012	2015	Steve Holmes
2015	2016	Paul Hart

Development Squad

From	To	Name	Notes
2012	2014	Neil Redfearn
2014	2015	Jason Blunt	Acting
2015	2016	Paul Hart
2016	2017	Jason Blunt	Under 23s Coach
2017	2020	Carlos Corberán	Under 23s Coach
2020	2022	Mark Jackson	Under 23s Coach

Reserves

From	To	Name	Notes
1948	1960	Willis Edwards
1967	1975	Cyril Patridge
1978	1980	Bryan Edwards
1980	1991	Peter Gunby
1995	1997	David Williams
1997	1998	Eddie Gray
2000	2003	Lucas Murtagh
2003	2005	Steve Agnew
2006	2006	David Geddis
2006	2010	Neil Thompson
2010	2012	Neil Redfearn

Under 19s & 17s and 18s & 16s

From	To	Name	Position
2000	2004	Pop Robson	Under 17s Coach (2000–01), Under 19s Coach (2001–04)
2006	2007	Steve Agnew	Under 18s Coach
2007		Paul Beesley	Under 18s Coach
2007	2009	Daral Pugh	Under 16s Coach Under 18s Coach (2007–09)
2009	2012	Neil Redfearn	Under 18s Coach
2012	2014	Richard Naylor	Under 18s Coach
2014	2015	Jason Blunt	Under 18s Coach
2015	2016	John Anderson	Under 18s Manager
2016	2017	Andy Gray	Under 18s Coach
2016	2020	Mark Jackson	Under 18s Coach
2020	present	Scott Gardner	Under 18s Coach