Ilia Gruev put in a big shift as Leeds United took on Manchester United at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm.

Whites midfielder Ilia Gruev has issued an upbeat six-word Leeds United verdict following his big shift against Manchester United in the club’s first pre-season friendly.

Gruev’s 2024-25 season was disrupted by a knee injury but the Bulgarian international midfielder played every minute of United’s last six games as Leeds went up as Championship champions.

Gruev’s busy time of it then continued as he was the first Leeds player back in international duty with Bulgaria, after which it was time for a well earned summer rest.

No other Leeds player played more minutes

Leeds, though, have now been back in preseason training for two weeks and Gruev again found himself in the starting line-up for Saturday’s first preseason friendly against Manchester United in Stockholm.

Whites boss Daniel Farke then made eight changes at the interval but Gruev was one of three players to stay on and eventually played 86 minutes of the goalless draw - more than any other Leeds player.

Taking to his Instagram page, Gruev shared a few action photographs together with the words: “A decent first run-out of preseason!” together with the flexed biceps emoji.

Replying with “Yes Ilia!” - teammate Largie Ramazani certainly approved