Man United pulled the wool over Leeds United's eyes with 2017 transfer: View | OneFootball

The summer of 2017 saw Leeds United prepare for a campaign with Thomas Christiansen as their new manager.

The Yorkshire side brought in Christiansen, despite Garry Monk guiding the club to seventh place the previous season, after it became apparent that Monk would not work with Andrea Radrizzani and within the structure put in place.

So, pressure was on Christiansen a touch to go one better that season, and to do so, Leeds and Victor Orta were very busy in the summer transfer window.

The club paid a lot to bring in players such as Pontus Jansson (after a successful loan), Ezgjan Alioski, Samu Saiz and Mateusz Klich. But they also brought in a few players on loan, one of whom was Manchester United’s Cameron Borthwick-Jackson.

The defender was a recent breakthrough at Old Trafford, and it was decided he would get more game time on loan elsewhere, and it was Leeds that snapped him up.

Leeds United signed Cameron Borthwick-Jackson on loan in 2017

Borthwick-Jackson came through the Manchester United academy, playing for their youth teams before representing them at the under-18 and under-21 levels.

It was the 2015/16 season that saw Borthwick-Jackson make a surprise breakthrough into the Man United first team.

Louis van Gaal was in charge of the Red Devils at the time, and he oversaw somewhat of an injury crisis at the club as they lost several defenders to injuries.

So, the Dutchman had to turn to the academy, and he promoted Borthwick-Jackson to the first team.

In that season, the defender played 14 times for Man United, with 10 appearances coming in the Premier League. But when players returned, Borthwick-Jackson found himself back in the academy, and it was the 2016/17 season where he got his first loan move, joining Wolves.

He played just a handful of times for the club in the Championship, but that didn’t put off Leeds, who went on to sign the player on loan for the 2017/18 season. However, it was a deal that just didn’t work for any of the parties involved.

Leeds didn't see much in Cameron Borthwick-Jackson

In the summer of 2017, Borthwick-Jackson found himself not involved at Man United, as then manager, Jose Mourinho, didn’t pick the player to go on their pre-season tour.

Finding himself down the pecking order, in the middle of August, it was announced that he would be joining Leeds on a loan until the end of the season.

This was a chance for the player to show Mourinho and the people at Old Trafford that he has a future at the club.

However, he didn’t really get the chance to do just that, as it turned out to be a disaster of a loan spell for the player and the club alike.

Instead of him staying at Elland Road until the end of that season, Leeds decided to end the loan spell in January, when he returned to Old Trafford.

In his time at Leeds, the Man United defender played just six times for the club, and only one of those appearances came in the Championship.

Borthwick-Jackson played and started in the game against Preston North End; he lasted 82 minutes on the pitch, but his performance didn’t seem to warrant him playing more often under Christiansen, with Vurnon Anita an option at left-back during that period and the club eventually moving for equally unsuccessful, Laurens De Bock.

In that game, the defender had 52 touches of the ball and did record two key passes from his 20 passes.

While in defence, Borthwick-Jackson made no interceptions, but he did make two tackles and clearances. He finished that game with a Sofascore statistical rating of 6.80, which was steady enough in a goalless draw.

However, that game clearly wasn’t enough to convince Christiansen. Borthwick-Jackson was on the bench for the following three fixtures, but then bombed out of the Championship squad until December, when he was an unused substitute in a win against QPR. There were no further opportunities to build on that Championship outing, but he did have other opportunities in the EFL Cup and FA Cup - his last outing came in a disastrous 2-1 defeat to Newport County in January. Borthwick-Jackson played an hour.

Leeds were probably hoping that the defender would come to Elland Road and offer what he did when he broke through at Old Trafford. However, that never happened, and in the end, Leeds never got the quality of player they thought they were getting from Man United, with his early form over the M62 something of a red herring.