Northern Irish forward Stuart Dallas immediately wormed his way into the hearts of Leeds United players upon arriving from Brentford in the summer of 2015, as he emerged the club’s Players’ Player of the Year at the end of the campaign.
However, his future at Elland Road at the beginning of the season was in huge doubt as he entered the last year on the contract he signed 2 summers ago.
New manager Thomas Christiansen had gone about signing new forwards and had plans to bring more in at the time, and it became clearer Dallas wasn’t going to feature heavily in his plans.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard was convinced of the quality of the Northern Ireland international winger and a new 3-year deal was handed to him last month.
Dallas revealed of his fears as a contract extension deal stalled: “I was probably coming into this season fighting for my Leeds career because I was out of contract at the end of it. I needed to do something.
“I never wanted to leave and I class this as home. We’ve got a very good team and so far it’s been a joy to be part of.”
Dallas is yet to start a league game thus far, but was included in the EFL Cup’s starting XI against Burnley on Tuesday night and proved to be hero as he blasted home the decisive kick for a 5-3 victory on penalties following a 2-all draw after 180 minutes.
That hasn’t stopped the 26-year-old from impressing, as he has scored twice in 7 appearances off the bench.
Christiansen insists he would give the winger more chances to prove himself, and should he keep impressing, a permanent spot in the manager’s starting XI could be his going forward.
