"An immense signing" - Leeds United fan pundit reacts to short-term summer pick up | OneFootball

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This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Defender Sam Byram has starred since his return to Leeds United this summer.

Byram began his career with the Whites, making 151 appearances for the club before joining Premier League side West Ham United in January 2016.

However, it did not work out for Byram at the London Stadium, and he made the move to Norwich City in July 2019, spending the next four years at Carrow Road.

After his release by the Canaries this summer, Byram returned to Elland Road on trial before putting pen-to-paper on a one-year contract in August.

Byram has been excellent for Daniel Farke's side at left-back this season, and as well as contributing to four clean sheets, he has scored one goal and provided one assist in 11 appearances in all competitions.

After his strong start to his second spell at Leeds, Byram revealed his delight at being back at the club and reuniting with Farke after their time working together at Norwich.

"At the start it was just a case of training, it’s good to be in a team environment to keep fit and then as it progressed, I did well in training and then they asked if I wanted to be involved in pre-season games. From my point it’s always a risk being out of contract but for me the chance to impress and sign again for Leeds massively outweighed any potential risk. It’s a huge opportunity for me to come back here and to work with a manager I’d worked with before. For me, it was just pure excitement and I relished the opportunity," Byram told the Official Leeds United Podcast.

Has Sam Byram been a good signing for Leeds United so far?

FLW's Leeds United fan pundit Kris Smith has been hugely impressed by Byram since his return to Elland Road this summer, praising Farke for bringing the 30-year-old back to the club on a short-term deal that was low risk, high reward.

"Byram coming in as a free agent was never going to turn that many heads, just because he's not gone on to be the sort of player that we expected or the one that looked like going on to something big when he left for West Ham," Kris said.

"With the bar set quite low, I think he's blown expectations out of the water under Farke and looks an immense signing at left-back.

"We all know the sort of player he is or was when we watched him previously, and what he can offer us, but he looks so much more refined at both ends of the pitch.

"I think a pleasant surprise of a signing is what it looked like from the outset, now it's just become a brilliant piece of business from Farke to bring him back to the club."

What next for Leeds United?

Farke made a number of excellent signings this summer, with the likes of Byram, Ethan Ampadu, Glen Kamara and Joel Piroe all making a big impact in the early weeks of the season.

Leeds head into the international break sitting fifth in the table, and while they are nine points behind second-placed Ipswich Town and 11 points behind leaders Leicester City, they look to be building up significant momentum.

With one of the strongest squads in the division, the Whites should be among the automatic promotion contenders come the end of the campaign.