Presenter Joe Wainman believes that winger Daniel James was always destined to join Leeds United.

The 23-year-old moved to the Elland Road club for £25m from Manchester United on deadline day back in August.

How is James performing at Leeds?

After coming off the bench for his debut against Liverpool last month, James has started each of Leeds' last three top-flight fixtures.

He is yet to register a goal or an assist for his new club yet, though, and has earned an average game rating of 6.24 from WhoScored, which sees him rank 16th when compared to his teammates.

He will be hoping to get off the mark this weekend when Leeds travel to Southampton, looking to pick up back-to-back wins after their 1-0 victory over Watford before the international break.

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What has Wainman said about James?

The Yorkshire-based club came very close to signing James back in January 2019, only for Swansea to pull out of the deal at the last minute. 

Wainman claims that he did not lose hope that James would eventually end up at Leeds, though, especially as Marcelo Bielsa is a big admirer of the player.

Speaking about James' arrival to GIVEMESPORT, Wainman said: “I just felt that it was always going to be Leeds United’s deal because they were so big on him. Victor Orta very big on him. Of course, Bielsa, he’s like Bielsa’s son, I think. It was always going to happen.”

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Will James be a success at Leeds?

James has not found his best form at Leeds so far, and he would have hoped to have made a bigger impact in his first six weeks with the club.

Yet he clearly has the backing of his manager, who seems to have wanted him in his squad since 2019, and the Welsh international is starting to establish himself in the starting line-up under Bielsa.

The side have a number of winnable games coming up, as they take on Southampton, Wolves and Norwich in their next three league matches, and this could provide James with the opportunity to find his feet.

Given that Leeds boast an attack that includes the likes of Raphinha, Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo, it seems that it is only a matter of time before they all click into gear, and then we may see exactly why Leeds were happy to pay big money for James in the summer.