£10m Burnley star's honest Leeds United admission as Championship promotion 'pressure' addressed
Leeds United are seven points ahead of Burnley with 12 games remaining.
Burnley winger Jaidon Anthony is ‘buzzing’ with his starting role at Burnley after finding minutes hard to come by with previous loan club Leeds United.
Anthony is one of two Turf Moor regulars who spent most weekends watching from the bench at Elland Road last season, with the winger back playing alongside former Leeds teammate Connor Roberts. Through little fault of their own, the pair struggled for starts under Daniel Farke as Crysencio Summerville and Archie Gray dominated the left-wing and right-back spots respectively.
Like Roberts, Anthony was a model professional during his loan stint at Leeds and left West Yorkshire on good terms last summer, despite starting just two Championship games. A season-long switch to Burnley, which is thought to include a £10m permanent clause, has been far more fruitful, with the 25-year-old starting 30 league games, registering three goals and five assists in the process.
Anthony Leeds admission
“I'm loving it,” Anthony told the Burnley Express of his latest loan spell. “Obviously last year [at Leeds] it was very different, I didn't play as much, but this year I'm just buzzing with the playing time and hopefully I can keep helping the team and we can achieve the success we want.
“I’m just going to keep trying my best, really. Obviously there's stuff that if we go up then I'll be here permanently, which is an exciting prospect. Hopefully that happens then I'll continue this in the Premier League and keep helping Burnley Football Club.”
There was little doubt at Leeds Anthony was good enough to play regularly for a promotion-chasing side, but the winger was unfortunate to be competing for minutes with Summerville last season. The Dutchman cemented himself as Farke’s first-choice on the left early doors and never looked back, registering 29 goal involvements on his way to the Championship Player of the Season award and a £28m move to West Ham.
Promotion race ‘pressure’
Leeds retained an admiration for Anthony last summer before signing Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon, with the winger now looking to cause promotion heartbreak in LS11. And Burnley are in a familiar position to his former loan club this time a year ago, with pressure on as they look to catch at least one of the top two.
“It’s always important [to keep up the pressure],” Anthony added. “Obviously at the moment we're chasing and we have to keep applying the pressure and you never know what happens, but it's definitely important to keep getting wins and hopefully we can continue that.”
Catching Leeds would need Burnley to enjoy an almost perfect run-in, with a 16-game unbeaten streak sending Farke’s side seven points clear of their third-placed promotion rivals. That run included meetings with all other top-two contenders and comeback victories over Sunderland and Sheffield United has seen a huge step taken towards automatic promotion.
Anthony’s greatest chance of enjoying promotion at the second time of asking would be for Burnley to catch Sheffield United, who are just two points clear following Monday’s Yorkshire derby. The pair meet at Turf Moor for their third-last fixture of the campaign, which has been tipped as a possible decider.