Leeds United: Southampton man "held out" for Elland Road switch - he probably wishes he hadn't | OneFootball

When this EFL hero arrived in West Yorkshire, there was every reason to believe a new Whites icon was about to be born, but it never came to be.

Among the chaos that engulfed Leeds United off the pitch in the mid-2010s, fans were optimistic progress could be made on it after they signed a Football League legend in Billy Sharp.

Sharp, one of the most recognisable English footballers outside the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, arrived at Elland Road in August 2014 after a slump in form at Southampton. He was one of the first signings of Leeds' new era under Italian businessman Massimo Cellino, who had purchased a 75% stake in the Whites a few months earlier.

Speaking to Sky Sports News at the time, Sharp said: "I heard they were interested and I've held out for it and I'm really delighted", adding he was looking forward to starting. However, fast-forward twelve months and he had moved on.

Billy Sharp's career before Leeds

After coming through the youth ranks at Sheffield United, Sharp first made a name for himself at Scunthorpe United in the mid-2000s. Following a return to the Blades in 2007, he joined Doncaster Rovers on loan in 2009, where he scored 15 times in 33 Championship appearances that season.

Rovers made this transfer permanent the following summer, allegedly paying a club-record £1.15 million to secure Sharp's services. He was on the move again in January 2012, after 26 goals in 51 appearances during his first permanent spell in DN4 led the Saints to march in for him, hoping that his goalscoring ability would fire them back to the Premier League. With nine goals for them in 15 games, that's exactly what happened.

However, following a season-long loan at Nottingham Forest throughout 2012/13, he struggled to get back into the Saints' first team. Loan spells at Reading and back at Rovers followed in 2013/14, and it was clear his days at St Mary's were numbered.

It was therefore a no-brainer when Leeds came calling in 2014, with Sharp claiming the club had been interested in him for "three or four years" before the deal happened. He tweeted his delight about joining the Whites, hoping to feature regularly throughout his two-year deal.

Cellino's chaos unsettled Sharp it seemed

Sharp's arrival at the club came off the back of a new era at the club, one which threatened to uproot any progress the club had made since they were promoted back to the Championship in 2010.

Although Massimo Cellino initially failed the Football League's Owners' and Directors' Test in March 2014, it was overturned on appeal and his family became majority shareholders in the Whites the next month. However, the circus had already rolled into town.

Then-manager Brian McDermott was sacked just before the takeover was completed but was later reinstated. Cellino later claimed he'd asked to change a purple couch but was misheard. McDermott eventually left the club by mutual consent a few months later, with Dave Hockaday becoming head coach.

Sharp featured three times under Hockaday, including when he bagged a late winner on debut against Middlesbrough, but Hockaday was handed his P45 after Bradford City knocked them out of the Capital One Cup, only lasting 70 days in the dugout. Although results picked up, Sharp failed to add to his tally, and following the appointment of Slovenian Darko Milanič as Hockaday's replacement, he began to fall out of favour.

But just 32 days later, it all changed again after Milanič failed to win any of his six games at the helm and was shown the door. Neil Redfearn was later appointed, but whilst Sharp began to feature more regularly again, his form never quite took off to the extent seen at previous clubs.

His next Leeds goal didn't come until December, and beyond goals in consecutive games against Watford - his 150th career goal - and Ipswich, he looked a shadow of himself at Elland Road. His unsettled state probably wasn't helped by Cellino being disqualified from owning the club, after an Italian court found him guilty of tax evasion, while he was desperate to find form.

Redfearn left the club in acrimonious circumstances in July 2015, with the news breaking just before Sharp returned from the Whites' pre-season tour, ahead of his return to Bramall Lane in time for the 2015/16 season. Sharp's time at Elland Road, a place he had been so eager to go twelve months earlier, was over.

Be careful what you wish for - Leeds and Sharp found out

It's fair to say Sharp's time in West Yorkshire was, by the standards of his career before and after, a flop. On average, a goal every seven appearances meant he ultimately failed to replicate the form which had made him one of the Football League's hottest strikers.

But is it such a surprise? It would've been hard for anyone to find form in a club as unstable as Leeds were throughout 2014/15. Three permanent managers, a suspended owner and what felt like a fresh crisis every week meant there was no wonder Sharp never quite settled.

His single season at Elland Road very much felt like a case of 'right club, wrong time'. Had the deal been completed a couple of seasons earlier - as indicated by Sharp himself, he probably would've found his groove quickly. But at a time when the club itself was struggling to march on together, the challenge of emerging as a standout star for the Whites was simply too much.