Leeds United loss was certainly Barnsley's gain concerning six-figure deal: View | OneFootball

If Leeds United are well renowned for anything, it's that they have an absolutely outstanding academy that consistently churns out top talent for their first-team squad, and Alex Mowatt was no different.

He had a promising spell with Leeds and really shifted up the gears in terms of his performances in his development early on, despite finding himself in an unnatural position on the left flank at times in those first few years of his career.

During the 2014/15 season, he won Leeds United Players' Player of the Year, as well as the club's Player of the Year award. That was off the back of scoring nine goals and providing two assists in 38 games in all competitions, including multiple impressive goals from distance.

Mowatt was then handed the number-ten squad number for the upcoming 2015/16 season and looked to build on a promising start to his early career in West Yorkshire. He scored the opening goal in their 2-0 pre-season win over Everton, and it appeared the then 20-year-old would be just as key.

However, his influence was not as prominent, scoring just twice, albeit with two unstoppable strikes from 25 yards into the top corner of the goal in the 1-0 victory over Cardiff and in the following game with a long-range strike in a 3-0 victory against local rivals Huddersfield Town.

He then reverted to his former shirt number of 27 that summer, and hoped to either become adapted to his new position in Garry Monk's system or to be moved back to the centre of the park, where he'd been most influential for Leeds in recent years.

He started just seven times in 20 appearances under Leeds' new boss, though. That lack of action then prompted a switch to South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley. Mowatt played 125 games for the Whites, scoring 13 times and assisting a further 13 goals during his stint at Elland Road, where he is still well thought of thanks to lighting up LS11 with a range of long-range strikes in rather bleak times for the club.

Alex Mowatt's move to Barnsley

Despite being a product of the talented Leeds academy, Mowatt is most well known to fans of the EFL for his next move. The academy product departed the club in January 2017 for Barnsley for a fee of around £600,000 and has since gone on to play for West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough as well.

The Doncaster-born midfielder began by struggling at his new side, which saw him move to League One on loan with Oxford United to recapture some form and confidence.

Mowatt returned to Barnsley ahead of the 2018/19 season after their relegation to League One. He then formed a key partnership in midfield with teammate Cameron McGeehan. The pair played together in 39 of Barnsley's 46 league matches, with Mowatt appearing in all of them.

He would become a key player and captain for the Tykes in a deeper midfield role, making both the EFL Team of the Season and PFA Team of the Year for League One, and helping guide them to promotion at the first time of asking. Mowatt's resurgence continued in the second tier, winning Barnsley's Player of the Season award in 2019/20.

However, it was under Valerien Ismael during the 2020/21 season where he really thrived. He was always well-known for his long-range ball-striking, but his energy and industry became a prominent part of Mowatt's game. He would dictate games as part of that double pivot and had the longer range passing needed for Ismael's aggressive system.

They would go direct into the channels or a big striker, and then counter-press quickly from there if the ball was lost, and Mowatt was perfectly suited to playing in that way, in spite of some issues regarding mobility. He was also particularly adept at set-pieces, which was another key feature for Ismael's side.

He was suited so much so that when the French manager made the move from Oakwell to Albion in the summer of 2021, he just had to bring Mowatt with him.

Mowatt's recent form

On paper, it looked like a complete bargain of a free transfer, with Mowatt out of contract and having been excellent with his wand of a left foot, scoring eight times and notching a further seven assists in the Championship that year for Barnsley, and he was expected to slot straight into Ismael's Albion side.

It didn't work out as planned though - Mowatt wasn't as effective for West Brom in 2021/22 under Ismael and then Steve Bruce, and after slipping down the pecking order under the latter, he joined forces with Middlesbrough in the middle of August 2022 on a loan deal.

Albeit, he has since got back on track with the Baggies under a new head coach, and whilst not as attack-minded as he was at Leeds or Barnsley, Mowatt is deployed fundamentally as a deep-lying playmaker in Corberan's set-up.

That perhaps explains why the goals have dried up somewhat for him, and he's proving to be a vital part of the furniture at The Hawthorns in what has been a superb turn-around in his career.

Despite his exit from Oakwell on a free transfer, Barnsley is still the place where he is likely to be remembered most fondly, given his development and standard of performance in South Yorkshire.