A fully fit Izzy Brown could be just the spark Leeds United's Championship promotion campaign needs

By The Newsroom
Published 13th Dec 2018, 05:00 BST
Updated 13th Dec 2018, 09:10 BST
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In an ideal world Izzy Brown would have left the Championship behind by now. He is on the books of one Premier League club and in the summer before last at least two others wanted to sign him. At that stage it was reasonable to think that his apprenticeship had been served.

It took a gamble on Leeds United’s part to bring him back to the top tier of the EFL in August but, as Brown works through the final few weeks of rehabilitation from the ACL surgery which has held him back, the potential he holds starts to feel tangible: a loanee from Chelsea who Huddersfield Town tried to spend £8m on 18 months ago, and who Brighton’s Chris Hughton took under his wing before the beginning of last season. That move, Hughton said, was “natural progression for Izzy.”

The transfer felt natural because two months earlier, Brown had played in Huddersfield’s play-off final win over Reading at Wembley, signing off a five-month spell in West Yorkshire by helping Town make the Premier League for the first time. There are obvious parallels between then and now as he prepares to involve himself in a Championship promotion bid at the halfway stage.