Leeds United are still very much on course to win promotion back up to the Premier League at the first time of asking, despite Saturday's defeat to Coventry City, with Daniel Farke making the Whites a proud team to support again after relegation had soured the mood in West Yorkshire.

Farke's titans won't just settle for second spot in the Championship however, knowing that they're still very much gunning to be champions come the end of the action-packed 46-game season ahead of Ipswich Town and Leicester City.

Whilst Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter have had Leeds fans purring all campaign long with sublime attacking displays, Illan Meslier in-between the sticks has been equally as important by picking up a division-best clean sheets total of 18.

Casting a mind back to goalkeepers who were used before Meslier stepped up to become Leeds' number one, this former Whites man – who was often utilised by Marcelo Bielsa – now finds himself in a sticky situation at his current employers.

Bailey Peacock-Farrell's time at Leeds

Bailey Peacock-Farrell would rise through the youth ranks at Thorp Arch at a lightning pace to eventually become a first-teamer, making his Leeds senior debut all the way back in 2016 after relocating to West Yorkshire from Middlesbrough in 2013.

It would later lead to the Whites Academy product going on to make 41 appearances in total for Leeds, with Bielsa in particular taking a shining to the young shot-stopper during his first campaign at Elland Road.

After this one-off start during the 2015/16 season, with number one keeper at the time Marco Silvestri surprisingly out of the team for the Queens Park Rangers home clash, Peacock-Farrell would have to make do with a loan spell out at non-league York City before his moment in the spotlight would come later under the iconic Argentine boss.

The 6 foot 4 reserve figure would become a first-team face under Bielsa, making 28 appearances during his debut campaign as manager with ten clean sheets amassed when thrown in at the deep end.

Yet, regardless of his increased minutes in West Yorkshire and his connection to Leeds strong since coming through as a teenager, Peacock-Farrell would walk away from the then-Championship club for a new opportunity at Premier League level with Burnley in 2019.

This would ultimately go down as a move the former Leeds number one would regret making, but from the perspective of the Whites, cashing in on Peacock-Farrell when they did continues to look like a smart call.

Peacock-Farrell's time away from Leeds

The now 27-year-old keeper would end up relocating to the Clarets for a sizeable £2.5m fee, considering he had only really begun to make waves in the Whites first-team the season before this big move up to the top-flight.

Peacock-Farrell has only ended up making 24 appearances for the Lancashire outfit in total, with eight of those coming last season under Vincent Kompany when the Clarets clinched the Championship title in style.

The Northern Ireland international did shine when called upon for the title-winners in truth, keeping five clean sheets from those eight games.

However, he would fade back into the background swiftly whenever ex-Manchester City shot-stopper Arijanet Muric was available for selection over him.

Peacock-Farrell is also fondly remembered by Sheffield Wednesday supporters for a promising loan switch to Hillsborough during the 2021/22 season, with the towering former Leeds man making 47 appearances in total and keeping 17 clean sheets along the way.

That resulted in Wednesday sniffing about for Peacock-Farrell before a ball was kicked in the second tier this season, knowing that they probably could have got their former loanee back for a cut-price when looking at how much his once £2.5m valuation has tumbled.

Yet, the lofty shot-stopper now finds himself playing in Denmark for Aarhus GF with his career back at Burnley very much nearing a disappointing end.

Peacock-Farrell even finds himself coming in as being worth less than Liam Cooper now, even as the ageing centre-back looks close to being near the end of his Leeds career much like his former teammate's fate in Lancashire.

Peacock-Farrell's transfer value in 2024

Cooper's value comes in at a lowly €0.7m (£600k), not helped by his lack of game time at 32 years of age and the continued excellence of Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu as a centre-back partnership for Farke's men.

Yet, even as Cooper stares the end of his long-standing Leeds career in the face, Peacock-Farrell is worth just €0.2m (£171k) in comparison with his loan spell in Denmark also not exactly going to plan.

A comical red card against Brondby early into his stay at Aarhus, which saw Peacock-Farrell dilly-dally with the ball at his feet before forcibly bringing down an opposition attacker, meant football journalist Josh Bunting described his time away from Burnley as understandably "shaky."

Since then, Peacock-Farrell has won fans back over in Scandinavia with ten clean sheets from 19 games but that likely won't be enough for Kompany to want to keep hold of him even if Burnley fall back down to the Championship.

Peacock-Farrell would become Leeds' least valuable asset if he was back in the Whites camp today, worth even less than reserve keeper Karl Darlow who has played just four games for Farke this season.

Leeds won't really feel a tinge of sadness about how little Peacock-Farrell has pushed on since departing West Yorkshire in 2019, knowing that it was the correct decision to offload their former £2.5m sale to put all their faith in Meslier.

The German manager will know he can rely on Meslier in the crunch Championship games to come, as the Whites long for an immediate return to the promised land of the Premier League to justify all their hard work.

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By
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