Daniel James: My Game In My Words

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There was something a little less surprising about Daniel James’s latest goal-of-the-month contender.

It was another beauty amid the Leeds United winger’s 11-goal season, but the lack of surprise emerged after being briefed by the man himself.

James sat down with The Athletic at Leeds’ Thorp Arch training ground two days ahead of the lunchtime kick-off at Luton Town. There’s a laptop in front of us, which has videos of James’s goals and assists from this season cued up.

The 27-year-old’s weekend goal takes his overall contributions to 20 for the season. That matches last season’s tally — the most productive campaign of his career to date — and there are still six games to play. James has redefined himself across these two terms back in the Championship.

After leaving Swansea City in 2019 as a 21-year-old, James struggled to deliver eye-catching numbers in the final third. Across four Premier League seasons, stretched between Manchester United, Leeds and Fulham, James produced 12 goals and 12 assists in 6,508 minutes. That’s an average of one goal or assist in virtually every three full matches (271 minutes) he played.

Since August 2023, in the second tier, he has 40 goal involvements across 5,010 minutes. He is scoring or assisting once every 125 minutes. Yes, the opposition he has been facing is inferior to the defences he played in the Premier League, but this drop was an opportunity he wanted to take by the horns.

Nobody (with over 1,200 league minutes) is taking more shots at goal, per 90 minutes in the Championship than James. For every full game he completes, James has averaged 3.5 efforts. Only four players in the entire division average three or more shots per match.

The uptick has been a conscious decision. This is Daniel James’s game, in his words.

“I really analysed my game two or three seasons ago to (see) what I’m doing in games,” he says. “I remember coming out of games and I hadn’t had a shot.

“It was the saying: you don’t shoot, you don’t score. Look at all the top scorers. Look at players who I’ve played with, who have always scored a lot.

“(Aleksandar) Mitrovic is a prime example. He’s always up there with the top scorers, but he had the most shots in the Premier League. Look at (Erling) Haaland, the amount of shots he takes. He won’t finish them all, but you won’t remember the ones he doesn’t score. He’s going on to score hat-tricks.”

In the 2022-23 campaign, when James shared a Fulham dressing room with Mitrovic, the Serbian finished the season with 3.8 shots per 90 minutes. This is the kind of role James wants to have in this Leeds team. He wants to be a difference-maker in the final third, to take risks and move forward from the winger he used to be.

Mohamed Salah is arguably the most lethal right winger in world football. Inevitably, the Egyptian comes up as James reflects on the problems he used to have when dwelling on missed chances, those that would weigh him down.

“He’s so prolific,” he said. “It’s the way he can go and go again. I used to let a missed chance or missed opportunity get to me a little bit and maybe (then) not take the next one. In my head, it’s about taking risks in the right moments in the final third.

“I want to contribute to the team as much as possible with goals, with assists and, firstly, that comes with shooting. I try to get myself in great areas to have a shot and there’s times this season where I’ve probably been a little bit more unselfish in clear opportunities because maybe that pass across the box has been quite easy.

“As long as I’m clear in my head I’m taking the shot in the right moments because, ultimately, I’m not going to score goals if I’m not going to shoot. It’s the same as crossing the ball. There’s games where it might not come off five or six (times) and I might get a goal right at the end. That’s really what I’m trying to get out of it.”

Clarity in his mind, a will to score or create and moving on from misses. These are the tenets of the season he has crafted at the sharp end of the Championship with Leeds.

Hillsborough, August 2024. Sheffield Wednesday vs Leeds United

Ilia Gruev and Junior Firpo do the dirty work on the edge of United’s penalty area. The visitors turn the ball over and it’s striker Mateo Joseph in their own third, breaking away from a failed home attack.

James is already on his bike and the rest of the team knows they have arguably the fastest player in the division bursting into space. Is he always on the shoulder of the last man?

“I try and do that anyway,” he said. “(At) half-time, (the message) was all about stretching that back line. In the first half, we had a lot of possession, we controlled the game a bit more, so there were fewer opportunities for that.

“That was just after half-time. Mateo picked it up very deep and he knew he could just slide me.”

This was a rare chance for James to get in behind a defence which had been keen to limit space in the opening 45 minutes. The finish past James Beadle was not perfect, as James admits, even if it looked classy as Beadle went to ground.

“That’s what I wanted to do, but it didn’t come off as high as I wanted it to,” he says, “I wanted more elevation. I slow it down a bit, the keeper’s already gone to the side and that’s why it goes in in the end.”

Elland Road, November 2024. Leeds United vs Plymouth Argyle

Stuart Dallas was working as a pundit for LUTV, the club’s in-house media channel, and spoke to James via video link after full-time. There was some gentle ribbing about his 25-yard strike being a toe poke. James pushed back on camera, but his smile suggested he may have been fibbing.

“I didn’t actually end up toe-poking it,” he tells us, five months later. “It does look like a toe-poke. I don’t naturally hit the ball, if you watch my goals, with a backlift. Maybe not as much as that because I’m outstretched.

“It does look like a little bit of a toe-poke. It kind of is, but I did have my foot on the side. Once I struck it, it went straight, which is very similar to a toe-poke.

“It was a nice goal to get, especially with the amount of times the ball comes outside the box, you try a shot and it doesn’t go in.”

This is not the last goal we see James score from distance. Last weekend’s curler at Kenilworth Road is another good example. Leeds regularly face deep-lying defences and shots from range are more important.

James grew up as a dribbler and sought out space for his pace. He was not well known for his long-range shooting.

“There’s so many bodies in the way,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to use that. When you don’t think the shot’s on, a lot of the time it goes through players’ legs and that’s when the keeper doesn’t see it until late, so it doesn’t always have to be in the corner.

“It’s something I’ve had to work on because, after training, if you’re doing finishing it will be more unopposed, which is a lot easier. When you take it into games, it’s a lot tougher with bodies in the way.

“I’m just trying to get as many shots off as possible and just try and be clear with them and what I want to do. A lot of the time, I do try and go for power, especially my right side.”

Elland Road, November 2024. Leeds United vs Luton Town

Leeds were already 2-0 up and cruising when Daniel Farke introduced James with 21 minutes of normal time remaining. The prospect is a harrowing one for any opposition left-back.

“I wanted to contribute as much as possible and try to get goal contributions,” he said. “I told Jayden (Bogle) to stay a little bit deeper and I tried to create the distance between me and the defender.”

Amari’i Bell has the unenviable task of chasing James into the void. The first time the winger touches the ball is his lob of Thomas Kaminski.

“Once he’s played it, the ball is bouncing, I just had to get my body between the man and the ball and the keeper’s made the decision to come out,” said James. “He’s maybe not too far off his line, but the way the ball was bouncing, I didn’t really need to loop it over him too much.

“The ball didn’t sit down for me to strike it. In that position, I’ve been quite frustrated with a couple this season, where I could have definitely lobbed the keeper, it would have been a lot easier than that, and I’ve not finished them.

“The balls I’m getting, it’s always on, when the keeper gets caught in that area, where he comes or goes, and especially if the ball is bouncing. That shot’s always on.”

The team is always looking for that pass in behind, James admits, because it’s not just him trying to attack the space. He says the same of Manor Solomon, Joel Piroe and Brenden Aaronson.

“The team know I’m always going to be running in behind,” he said. “It’s not just me specifically, but the whole front line wants to stretch the game because it causes defenders problems.

“They don’t want to be on the back foot, running behind. They’d rather everyone come to feet, but it’s so key. When I was watching the game, I spotted that space in behind and it was just about exploiting it.”

James was used as a substitute in 15 league games last season. He generated one goal and two assists from those cameos. Competition for starts was fierce, as Crysencio Summerville made himself undroppable and Wilfried Gnonto showed his quality.

The Wales international found he had to make himself a threat whenever Farke turned to him.

“Last season, I didn’t play as much when I came back from injury because the team was flying and I understood that,” he said. “It was about doing everything I could and my goal-to-minute ratio was one of the best.

“I was getting 10, 15, 20 minutes and it was about, when I come on, ‘Get a goal, get an assist, get a goal and an assist’. That was the mindset.”

Elland Road, December 2024. Leeds United vs Middlesbrough

With a little over 15 minutes of normal time left, second-placed Leeds were drawing 1-1 with fifth-placed Middlesbrough. The visitors were coming on strongly and Elland Road was growing nervous.

Sam Byram thunders into a tackle in Middlesbrough’s half, killing one of their moves dead, turning the ball over in the process. Piroe picks it up and James has already got the jump on Neto Borges.

“This one was quite special,” he said. “This goes back to the mental side because, one minute earlier, I missed a chance in the exact same position. It was probably easier and I was disappointed, but the next time I got the ball, I didn’t even think about it.”

Piroe rolls the ball into space for James to run onto and he arrows it into the far top corner.

“That’s the mental side,” he said. “If that was me two or three seasons ago, mentally, I probably would have been a bit hesitant in that situation. There was only one thing on my mind: that I was going to smash it in the back of the net and it came off.

“It was a big game. A good team. It was 2-1 (after that), they’d had a lot of possession at that time as well.”

Another of James’ hallmarks is just how much fun he has with supporters when he celebrates. It’s not always been an easy run for the former Swansea man at Leeds after difficulties in the top flight and an odd loan spell at Fulham.

“When I do score, I want to embrace that with the fans,” he says, “It’s great. The game is 90 minutes of football and it goes so quick. A couple of days later, people start to think about the next game already. You’ve just got to embrace the moment.”

Elland Road, December 2024. Leeds United vs Oxford United

The breakaway goal against Oxford before Christmas allows James to talk about another trigger he uses. In this example, the Leeds counter starts early and doesn’t use James until the last moment.

He watches as Solomon bursts away and makes for the left side. James starts to jog. He’s patient and careful not to immediately hit the afterburners, just because he can.

“Especially counters, when the ball’s on the left side, I’m trying to time my run,” he said. “Another thing I’ve tried to improve on is, when the ball is countered, when I do that burst of movement.

“Sometimes you want to arrive onto the ball with a clear mindset, but also that burst of pace to be able to arrive on the ball. You don’t want to be coming too slow on it. You don’t want to be coming too fast on it, but also (find) that right trigger.”

Aaronson made a similar run through the centre occupying Oxford, while Solomon and Piroe are combining to put the Israeli into space. James is still jogging.

Then comes the key moment. As Solomon beats the last defender in his path, James comes alive.

“It goes back to a couple of seasons ago when, if you’re doing everything at one speed, it’s very easy for defenders to track that,” he said. “You look at the best players in the world and it’s that movement or acceleration that really gets them (the defenders).

“They take one look at you, you’re just walking or you’re jogging. They look again, you’re already gone. I feel if you start the sprint too early, or start the acceleration too early, defenders are already gone because they’re going to go with you.

“Whereas if you go, you stop, they think, ‘OK, it’s all right now’ and then it’s that burst of movement. This was a counter, so the left-back wasn’t actually there. I had all the space and Manor knows I’m always going to be there. Same with him on the other side.”

By the last clip, James’s eyes are opening up. He won’t have an easier chance all season. The relationship with Solomon has bloomed throughout the season. “Manor’s on loan from a team (Tottenham Hotspur) that loves to do that: when the ball is in that situation, the ball is getting flashed across, whether you’re looking or not,” said James. “I could arrive there 10 times and the ball not come, but it’s about arriving there every single time because it’s going to get you a lot of goals in the season.”

MKM Stadium, January 2025. Hull City vs Leeds United

This wasn’t a Road Runner counter-attack or a Howitzer. James has to stay alert as he travels around the box, and even overcome the initial disappointment of the ball evading him.

“I had a chance earlier where Manor played it and it just went wide,” he said. “It was a really tough game away. I probably wasn’t having one of my best games, but it was about being in the right areas and always keeping on the move and not being disappointed about earlier chances.”

The clip shows Matty Jacob, the Hull left-back, looking over his left shoulder just as James darts around the back of him to get goal-side. The ball does not initially fall for him and he watches it go past the goal.

James briefly holds his hands up in frustration but gets another chance when Bogle comes in on his blindside to rescue the play.

He said: “I was disappointed! I didn’t think Jayden was there so as the ball’s gone through, I’ve reacted. It was really nice to score in that game, especially when things aren’t always going your way individually.”

Elland Road, January 2025. Leeds United vs Norwich City

James is hardly known for his heading ability. He did once beat 6ft 5in (196cm) Tyrone Mings in the air at Villa Park to score in February 2022, but it’s not his forte. We show him Firpo’s cross from the left and his back-post leap.

Aaronson’s attempt is then blocked into the air and knocked back out to Solomon on the left. James gets up from his header and lurks, hoping to ask a question of goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

“This one is about keeping my eye on the ball,” he said. “Another thing I’ve been working on is getting good contact on the ball. Jayden’s jumped up, he’s heard my shout and it’s such a tight angle, but you have to make the keeper try, you have to get it on target.

“It was just about getting good contact. The keeper’s obviously seen it late as well because he’s probably not seen me behind Jayden. I got good contact, kept it low.

“It didn’t come amazingly off my foot, but I made the keeper work. Thankfully, it’s gone in.”

It’s another of those phrases you more closely associate with a goal-hungry centre-forward: work the keeper.

“It’s about working the keeper,” said James “You go back to the Mo Salah one, it’s (about) going again and again and again, whether you’ve missed the last chance, once you score, no one forgets. Everyone forgets the earlier ones and it’s going into every game with that mindset.”

Elland Road, February 2025. Leeds United vs Cardiff City

The clip starts with Joe Rothwell driving from deep with the ball.

“(He’s) so good (at that). It absolutely kills teams, committing them, creating those two vs one situations,” says James.

It pulls Cardiff out of shape and gifts space to Solomon and Firpo overlapping on the left. James lurks on the far side, aware of what’s coming.

“When you know we create that kind of overlap, it’s about arriving at the right time,” he said. “I don’t always know the ball he’s (Firpo) exactly going to play, but it’s about being in that position where you’re always on your toes.”

There’s that poacher’s six-yard-box mentality again.

“The best striker, for me, is Haaland at that,” he said. “If you watch him in the box from any cross, he never stops moving his feet. He’s never stood still, so he can react to anything. You think, ‘How has he scored that? How’s he got to that?’ It’s because he never stops moving.

“It’s so tough for a defender to mark that. It’s hard because you can be tired in the game, but you’ve just got to always expect the ball to arrive. It might not arrive in the position you want it, but if you’re moving, you’re able to react to it.”

Vicarage Road, February 2025. Watford vs Leeds United

James’s pace works in attack and when he’s looking to take advantage of a slack defence. He’d done his homework on Watford.

“Watford want to play football,” he said. “I knew that kind of pass — he (Edo Kayembe) was always going to try it. It’s about being in that position, not too deep and not too high, where you can react and you can come off that blind side of the midfielder, where he doesn’t really see.”

After stealing possession, James is almost left with too much time to think about the shot. Egil Selvik has a few moments to set himself and the winger has to work out how he beats him from a central position, without an angle to help him find a corner.

“Once I got the ball and it was positioned where it’s come to my left foot, I thought it’s more natural to me to bend it to the left side of the keeper, my right side, but the ball was travelling the other way,” he says.

“I thought, ‘If I’m going to hit it like this, I’ve got to get it over him, I’ve got to go with power and really believe it’s going to go in’. Because the keeper was out and I knew he’s going to come quick out, it was about getting good pace on the ball, but also the height because, otherwise, he saves it as he dives that side as well.

“In that moment, I knew in my head I’m going to put this in the back of the net. It’s having that mentality and that confidence to believe in yourself.”

Vicarage Road was an especially fruitful setting. His second goal of the night, inside 30 minutes, was another unerring strike into the roof of the goal. There’s more to take from his hat-trick attempt, which didn’t sneak in.

Vicarage Road, February 2025. Watford vs Leeds United

Jeremy Ngakia gets caught under a high clearance. The last man he wants chasing him down is James.

Just as he did with Borges and Bell against Middlesbrough and Luton, James gets between Ngakia and the ball. He’s on a brace inside half an hour and can smell the hat-trick before half-time. Imran Louza is at panic stations and Selvik is backpedalling.

He hits it on the bounce from the centre circle.

“Maybe I could have driven with the ball, but with the angle I was running, he (Ngakia) would have probably got back,” said James. “Plus, there was another defender in front.

“If it came to my right foot, it probably would have been a much cleaner strike because the way the ball set, I had to go with my side foot, which made it a lot harder. It nearly goes in because the keeper’s trying to track back while wondering where the ball is going.

“If it’s on target, it’s got a very, very good chance of going in.”

James is yet to score a hat-trick as a senior pro. “As a forward player, to score, but to get hat-tricks, is something you really want and because I scored the first two in 30 minutes, I was desperate for it,” he says. “I was quite gutted after the game I didn’t manage to do that.”

Old Trafford, August 2021. Manchester United vs Leeds United

We go back four years to underline how much James has changed as a player. His penultimate game for Manchester United was against Leeds in a 5-1 drubbing.

James watches himself stand up Luke Ayling, one of his closest friends, and goes back to what his mentality was like at that point in his career. Paul Pogba shifts the ball over to him on the left flank and he cuts inside with a shot that rolls to Illan Meslier.

“Getting that connection on the ball is really big,” he says. “I’m taking a lot more shots (now). If I look back then, my average was well down. How do you expect to score when you’re like that, especially in a team that’s dominating?

“We were always dominating the ball and I’m there to take risks in good areas. I might have a few strikes where it goes wayward, but it’s about getting the next one, and (now) I’m not really thinking of any noise outside because I’ve let that get to me before and, ultimately, you don’t develop as a player.”

Next, we watch a non-descript cross — but he recognises it even before we press play.

He’s taking on Firpo and gets around him for a quick cross off his right foot. It’s spooned into touch, but there is nobody there attacking it anyway. Would he do anything differently in that moment now? Would he be more patient and perhaps cut inside Firpo?

“When I get in that area, I always expect the striker in the box, but it’s about putting in a good ball,” he said. “In those situations, maybe I can come back out, but if I put it in a good area and the striker’s not there, it’s on them.

“As I say to them, if I’m not there, it’s my fault. There are times in the game where it is on to come out and recycle the ball, but for me it’s about taking risks and having a ruthless mentality.

“Every time you get the ball, go at your man. It doesn’t matter if it’s two versus one, three versus one, manipulate the ball so you can create those opportunities.”

Swansea.com Stadium, November 2024. Swansea City vs Leeds United

We return to the current season and have James’s assists ready to show him. His first of the season turns out to be a reminder of the relationship he has developed with Solomon.

“I’ve seen him very late and I would have been really disappointed if I didn’t get the assist because the shot was on,” he said. “I just saw him in a clear position and I always know he’s going to be there.

“He was really happy with that because that was his first goal this season and he’d been very unlucky in games before. We went on a little bit of a run where we started creating more goals for each other.”

Elland Road, February 2025. Leeds United vs Cardiff City

James set up the first of that afternoon’s seven goals. His pace again gets him in behind and brings him virtually one-on-one with Jak Alnwick in goal.

There were little glimpses at goal, but the No 7 had been pushed wide as defenders recovered to the goal line.

“I initially wanted to go around the keeper and shoot, but the way my footing was, I couldn’t,” said James. “Once I was set, everyone was on the line, so it was on to come back. Brenden supported the play well.

“I would have been quite annoyed with him if he didn’t finish.”

Bramall Lane, February 2025. Sheffield United vs Leeds United

His assist for Firpo at Bramall Lane is pulled up. James is in a similar area of the pitch to when he was against Firpo in that earlier August 2021 clip.

James drives inside, drops a shoulder and then goes back towards the byline before hanging a ball in the air for the advancing Firpo.

“It’s a different type of ball,” he said. “They are doubled up then, but I don’t want to just get the ball and recycle it. I’m not there to just keep the ball. I’m there to create opportunities.

“With the box overloaded, those types of crosses, especially when it’s in the 18-yard box and they’ve got bodies in there stood still, it’s really hard to defend those balls because an attacker coming on to it is going to come with power and with pace.

“It’s really hard to time the jump for defenders.”

Elland Road, March 2025. Leeds United vs West Bromwich Albion

James’s most recent assist brings us to another Firpo link-up. Except, this time, he’s attacking from the left flank. As his pace gives him space to burst away, you can see the look he has to see what Firpo is thinking before he acts.

“I’m in a (left-wing) position because I pressed the keeper and I found myself at that side,” he said. “Over the years, I played a lot on the left and I like this cross coming inside. Junior’s found himself in the box somehow.

“It’s about putting it in that area where it’s tough for the defender or the keeper, coming into no man’s land, (wondering) who’s going to head it. The defender’s then on the back foot.”

James cuts back inside onto his right foot, fooling the defender, rather than going to the byline off his left foot. He admits, while he may hit the first man a lot, to frustrate supporters, it’s because he’s trying to be so precise with that ball.

“It was a really tough cross to make, but it’s a cross I try to do from both sides,” he said. “I might hit the first man a lot, but I’m just trying to always hit in that area where we can take opportunities. It was a great finish from Junior.”

As our chat winds down, James uses that ninth-minute goal for Firpo as a chance to speak about his attitude to the opening half an hour in matches. Before this season, he felt he wasn’t taking the risks his managers needed him to as one of the side’s attackers.

“I talk about the first 30 of coming out the traps and after that, you can start to settle in the game,” he says. “Try to get whatever you can out of the first 30 minutes and let that be your game.

“In games before this season, I’ve been safe with that first pass in the first 30 minutes, but in an attacker’s position, safe is dangerous because you’re not going to play, you’re going to be brought off because you’re not doing things the manager wants.

“Going back to games this season, I’ve been frustrated. It’s just about being clear at the time that you think that’s the right thing to do.

“There’s games where maybe I tried to play that pass across the box, where I could have shot easily, and it’s not come off. I’ve been frustrated after the game because I should have shot, but, in the moment, I was very clear I was going to pass it for an assist.

“It’s about not being caught in two minds of, ‘Do I pass? Do I cross?’ Just be clear with what you want to do and that’s where you get the benefits from.”

The benefits have been reaped by Leeds this season. He has six more games to make this definitively the best campaign of his career.

(Top photo: illustration: Eamonn Dalton/The Athletic;  Stu Forster, Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

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