Jaidon Anthony has stated his clear intention for Leeds United to buy a “improved” player to complement the one who has already secured Championship promotion.
Anthony, a Bournemouth winger, has joined Leeds on a season-long loan as part of the deal that sent Luis Sinisterra to the Cherries. Bournemouth needed a contract sheet to give them one extra hour to complete their late swoop for Sinisterra, thus the swap was only disclosed at midnight on transfer deadline day.
After appearing in all three of Bournemouth’s first three Premier League games, Anthony is now preparing for another season in the Championship, where he helped guide the Cherries to promotion as 2021-22 runners-up.
In a breakout season, the former Arsenal youth scored eight goals and provided six assists to help his side win promotion, starting 38 of his team’s 46 league games and coming off the bench in seven others.
With Premier League experience already under his belt, the Hackney-born winger believes Leeds have acquired an even greater player than the one who guided Bournemouth to promotion – and one who is completely bent on now helping the Whites return to the country’s top division.
“I feel like I’ve gotten better every year,” Anthony told LUTV. “Last year was obviously a big step up for me, and I was able to play in a lot of games.” Hopefully, I can put that to use here.
“Obviously, we were promoted from this division the year before last, and I played a lot of games in it.” I know it’s a tough league, one that’s physical and demanding, and it’s a thrill to be able to return and contribute to another promotion.
“Obviously, the goal is to get promoted, play as many games as possible, help the team, and be a big part of some success really.”
After playing a key role in Bournemouth’s promotion, Anthony went on to make 30 Premier League appearances last season, starting 11 of them and scoring his first three goals in the country’s top flight, as well as providing his first assist.
The 23-year-old then impressed in pre-season this summer and started his team’s opening two games of the season, a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham followed by a 3-1 loss at Liverpool. Anthony dropped to the bench for the 2-0 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur, when he came on as a 60th-minute replacement, but returned to the starting lineup for last Tuesday night’s 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over Swansea City.
All roads therefore led to Saturday’s Premier League match at Brentford, until a last-minute move to Leeds as Sinisterra traveled to the south coast and Anthony the other way. Anthony signed far too late to play in the weekend’s Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday, but he nonetheless checked in at Elland Road the next day.
“I’m really excited,” Anthony remarked as he spoke pitchside at Elland Road about the new challenge ahead. “Obviously, everything happened very quickly, but I’m excited to get in and around the group and hopefully help the team.”
The new signing now has just under two weeks without a game to get to know his new club and teammates, but the winger is already looking forward to United’s first game back after the international break against Millwall.
“It’s international break, and I feel like it’s a good time to settle in and get to know the lads and the manager and how he wants to play,” Anthony explained. We’re hoping to be ready for Millwall.”
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