Town Confirm Davis Signing Monday, 25th Jul 2022 20:16 Town have completed the signing of Leeds United left-back Leif Davis on a three-year deal with the club having an option for a further season.
TWTD revealed earlier this month that the Blues had made an offer of £1 million mark plus a further £500,000 in potential top-ups for the 22-year-old, who had a year left on his Leeds contract.
The final fee is officially undisclosed but is likely to be in excess of that figure with discussions between the clubs having been ongoing for a number of weeks while Davis has been away with the Leeds squad on their pre-season tour of Australia.
It's almost certainly in the top five fees paid for a defender by a League One club.
“I am delighted to be here,” Leif told iFollow Ipswich. “This is the best step for me at this point in my career. I want to play games and help the team in any way I can.
“I'll always give it my all when I am out on the pitch and I can't wait to meet the fans at Portman Road.”
Manager Kieran McKenna added: “We're really happy to have Leif with us. This is one the club has worked hard on this summer.
“He is a player that fits the bill of what we want. He is young, hungry, athletic and technically very good.
“Leif has played games in pre-season and we are hoping he will be ready to make an impact early on.
“He'll get plenty of support from the staff and fanbase, and I know everyone will be excited to see him play.”
CEO Mark Ashton said: “Leif is a brilliant addition to the group. He is hungry to achieve success at the club and we are thrilled to have him on a permanent basis.”
Newcastle-born Davis was with Morecambe’s youth set-up as a schoolboy before joining the Elland Road club’s academy in July 2018.
Davis, who is 6ft tall and can also operate as a wing-back and at centre-half, spent last season on loan at AFC Bournemouth in the Championship, making 10 starts and five sub appearances, a move which was initially viewed as a precursor to a permanent switch.
However, injury limited his involvement and he returned to Elland Road before the end of the campaign.
For Leeds, Davis made six first-team starts and eight appearances from the bench.
Town have already signed one left-back this summer, former Morecambe man Greg Leigh, however it had been expected that they would look to bring in a second before the start of the season.
Davis's arrival as the club's sixth signing of the summer may well see Matt Penney move on before the end of the window.
Town are still continuing their pursuit of Leicester striker George Hirst but face opposition from Championship clubs for the former Sheffield Wednesday youngster from sides understood to include Blackpool and Blackburn, while Portsmouth remain keen on another loan for the 23-year-old, who was with them last seson. We understand at least one of the Championship clubs has made an offer.
According to the Portsmouth News, the Foxes are asking £2 million for Hirst, who is the son of former England international David.
The Blues are also still eyeing a return for ex-loanee Bersant Celina, whose switch to Turkish side Kasımpaşa broke down last week, but with no progress believed to have been made over the weekend.
Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images
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Razor added 10:17 - Jul 26
Crikey they have done it again-----from a Premiership club to a Division 3 club----how do they do it!! Great for us of course and just need that striker now and we are done and off and ready to go. | | |
Mariner1974 added 10:26 - Jul 26
Liking that new Training Top he's wearing as well in the interview. That would be a smart match day option. Prefer that to the new home shirt.... | | |
SickParrot added 11:01 - Jul 26
Suberb news, what a great signing. We should now be really dangerous down both flanks. Maybe just need another proven goal scorer but if we can get off to a good start to create some momentum and can avoid too many injuries this season could be very good. | | |
DMDC added 11:09 - Jul 26
Lot of money for a kid whos only played 21 games. People who are saying its a mark of intent etc.....Remember last season when every signing was greeted with ooooo's and aaaaa's yet most people really hadnt a clue about any of those players. | | |
Marinersnose added 11:23 - Jul 26
A statement of intent. Excellent business from the management team who identified our weaknesses and have brought in young hungry talent. A family member is from Leeds and is a massive fan. He's sorry to see the lad go. He can definitely play and is a massive upgrade. Maybe Hirst next or will KMK wait until January and go with what we have. Exciting times. We definitely have more of a goal threat than last year with Ladapo JJ Harness all likely to be amongst the goals as well as those contributors from last season. We will be a very quick team at this level which should be so exciting to watch. | | |
NITFC added 13:37 - Jul 26
Delighted by this, and the other additions this summer. More than we could have expected and we now must have our best chance of promotion. Just two points of caution though :- 1. With so many new faces (again) this year, I hope we don't have another period while we wait for them to "gel" because we don't have time for that this season. 2. We simply HAVE to go up this season. Unlike Marcus Evans (love him or hate him) our owners are not playing with their own money. The day they get bored with us they will want it back. So we can't be a loss making club anymore and we simply must get back the money we have "invested" in players. The best way to do that is to get promoted Not being pessimistic, just realistic | | |
MickMillsTash added 15:14 - Jul 26
DMDC I have had your thoughts as well- Left Back Fanfare for Penney, Coulson, Thompson last season and before Calum Elder, Stephen Ward. Luke Garbutt was good. I think the difference here is McKenna - his thoughtful approach and shown ability to improve players makes me feel that these are good signings that fit into the club and like the majority of McKenna's comments they make sense. We need a left back (Penney not good enough, KVY - he played well against Bolton U16s and Tranmere 3 years ago and its been downhill since) So until Saturday and Boltons big lump up front muscles Leif out of the way and bundles in a back post cross, Bolton then pretend to have cramp for the next 75 minutes I'm very happy. After that I might be calling for a third striker to help ladapo and Jackson and a goal scoring midfielder. | | |
_clive_baker_ added 15:25 - Jul 25
Welcome Leif Davis. Good to have some more strength in the left back area, he seems like a player who likes to get forward and assist & score goals too, so hopefully a great signing who can play a big part in back to back promotions and getting us back into the premier league in a couple of years. We can dream! In McKenna we trust. | | |
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