Thank You Pontus Jansson

120 appearances, 9 goals and 1 epic chant later, our super Swedish warrior is saying goodbye to Leeds United.

For me, Pontus Jansson has easily been one of our best players over the last 3 seasons. He has been imperative week in week out, and he will be missed by the Leeds United fans, despite his exit being quite a sour one.

So on the pitch what did Pontus actually bring? Firstly, for a CB he was extremely gifted on the ball. He was calm when under pressure from opposition attackers, he was comfortable with bringing the ball out of defense and then spraying passes into midfield or the striker. Not only that but he was a solid 'off the ball' defender too. Many a time we would leave Pontus (or Cooper) one-on-one with their winger or striker and he would get us out of jail. His stand up tackling ability is some of the best I've seen at this level.

His heading ability is top-notch as well for me, defending and attacking. Personal favourites are his goal at Villa Park in 2016, his goal at Ewood Park in 2017 and then again at Villa Park in 2018. They always stand out for me as great moments for Jansson.

Jansson also formed awesome partnerships too. In his first season him and Kyle Bartley had ridiculous chemistry. He seemed to have developed Liam Cooper as well and it is a shame that we will not get to see that partnership progress further, because they complimented each other very well last season and were both core members in that team of 2018/19.

This is all stuff Brentford have got to look forward to and we need to replace. I think we will be able to get a CB of equal footballing ability to Jansson. However, the attributes I think that we will find harder to replace are his passion and his connection with the fans. That's not something you can buy. Jansson felt like one of us. He revitalised us at times when we needed it. Questions over his attitude, but I always felt he played for the shirt and loved Leeds United. He is everything I expect from a Leeds United player.

Although it hasn't ended how we all probably wanted, that doesn't change the fact that Pontus has been an incredible player over the last three seasons. So the only thing I have left to say is, thank you Pontus Jansson.