Leeds United defender Pontus Jansson has suggested that getting the club promoted back to the Premier League would be as good as winning it.
United sit three points clear at the top of the Championship table, and the 27-year-old is eager to end his side’s 14 year absence from top flight football.
Speaking to the Mirror, the Swede said: “Getting us back to the Premier League would mean everything. For me, it would easily be the biggest memory of my life so far. Winning promotion would be like winning the Premier League.
“I’ve been at this club for three years now, so I know the history and what it would mean to the people at the training ground, at the stadium, the fans and the city.
“I get goosebumps just thinking about it. It would easily be the biggest memory of my life.”
OPINION
There’s no doubting just how much promotion back the Premier League would mean to Leeds United and their fans. By rights, the Yorkshire club are one of the giants of the English game, and their absence from the top flight for such a long period has been a travesty. Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment has been a masterstroke and United, like Wolves did last season, look like a Premier League side in waiting. The Argentine has them playing top quality, high intensity football and has instilled a never say die attitude that is seeing them grind out results week after week. It’s a cliche, but the best teams win ugly, and while Leeds are dedicated to their expansive brand of play, they are picking up points against the odds when they have no real right to. If, but more likely when, Leeds return to the top flight, there will be a celebration the likes of which that patch of Yorkshire has not seen for many years, and it will be entirely deserved.