Sheffield Wednesday 'interested' Leeds United loanee as defender admits his 'standards dropped' at Elland Road

Leeds United will now be preparing for the Championship play-offs after missing out on automatic promotion last week. Daniel Farke’s side lost 2-1 at home to Southampton on the final day, with Ipswich Town beating Huddersfield to join Leicester City in the top two.

The Whites will now face sixth-placed Norwich City in the semi-finals, with victory setting up a final at Wembley with one of Southampton or West Bromwich Albion. It’s set to be a tight and tense battle for Premier League football and ahead of Sunday’s first-leg at Carrow Road, the YEP has rounded up some of the latest stories surrounding the club.

Poveda race

Sheffield Wednesday are reportedly keen to make Ian Poveda’s loan spell at Hillsborough permanent following an impressive few months. The Star reports that Wednesday hope to keep hold of the Colombian winger after securing their place in the Championship for next season.

Poveda joined Wednesday on loan in January and made an instant impact with the South Yorkshire side, helping them stave off relegation despite looking certain for the drop earlier in the season. The 24-year-old registered just the single assist in 10 appearances but did plenty to encourage manager Danny Rohl.

Rohl is now keen to extend Poveda’s stay and even make it permanent, with the winger set to become a free agent once his contract at Leeds expires at the end of June. But the report adds that there will be competition, both domestically and abroad, for his signature after an impressive few months.

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Poveda is one of several players set to leave Elland Road for free this summer as Leeds transition under Farke. Club captain Liam Cooper and fellow promotion heroes Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Jamie Shackleton are all into the final months of their respective contracts.

Warnock standards

Former defender Stephen Warnock admits his standards dropped at Leeds after dropping into the Championship and thinking he’d ‘p*** it’. Warnock spent two-and-a-half seasons at Elland Road between 2012 and 2015 after signing from Aston Villa.

The experienced left-back quickly became a regular starter at Leeds and eventually replaced Jason Pearce as captain, but injury allowed a young Charlie Taylor to come in and in January 2015 he joined Derby County.

“To be honest, it was brilliant at Leeds for a period. You talk about Villa being a massive club, Leeds are huge. The following they’ve got is phenomenal,” Warnock told the Under The Cosh podcast. “I felt sorry for myself to begin with. I hate being disrespectful, but if I made an overlap at Blackburn – Tugay picks me out. At Villa, [James] Milner and [Stiliyan] Petrov. At Leeds, I was making runs and the ball wasn’t coming.

“I remember becoming a static full-back. To be honest, I probably dropped my standards thinking I could go down to the Championship and p*** it, which you can’t. I struggled for a bit. I was thinking I’d go to Leeds, stay for six months, a year and go back to the Premier League, somebody will buy me.”