On 6 July 2016, Leeds United had announced on their official Twitter handle that they had signed experienced shot-stopper Rob Green on a free transfer.
The veteran goalkeeper had been impressive during his time at Norwich City, West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers whilst also having represented England at the international level a handful of times and became Garry Monk’s fourth signing of the summer following Marcus Antonsson, Hadi Sacko and Kyle Bartley.
At the time, Leeds fans appeared to be extremely excited at the prospect of the ‘keeper joining up with them, as many had felt it would be a great step in their efforts of achieving promotion to the Premier League.
Here are just some of their reactions, including that of a certain Vinnie Jones:
what a great signing it feels like things are warming up for lufc
— Vinnie Jones (@VinnieJones65) July 7, 2016
welcome – great signing
— peter wilson (@peterwilson40) July 6, 2016
what a signing this is more like it
— Matthew Hull (@Matt_hull90) July 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/stani01/status/750786060091789313
Fantastic signing.. welcome to #lufc Rob
— Lee Thompson (@lufcThommo) July 6, 2016
bloody hell things seem to be looking up don't they!
— Jordan Bransberg (@JordanBransberg) July 6, 2016
so so happy with this!!
— LeeHarris (@LeeHarrisss) July 6, 2016
He continued to put in a number of impressive appearances for the Whites during the first year of the season and was rewarded with a contract extension after he beat Marco Silvestri’s clean sheet tally in the previous season.
However, unfortunately, he was still prone to the odd error, as he did during his time with the England set-up.
Green made a gaffe against Newcastle United in November 2016, when he dropped the ball underneath his crossbar onto the foot of Dwight Gayle he had the simplest of finishes.
Once Thomas Christiansen was brought in as manager, the goalkeeper saw his time as number one over and was replaced by Felix Wiedwald, who did not exactly have the best of times at Elland Road.
Soon after the arrival of the manager, the veteran number one joined Premier League outfit Huddersfield Town to provide back-up before completing a shocking transfer to Chelsea earlier this summer.
Although he did appear to be an excellent signing for Leeds at the time, he failed to do what they had thought he would help them achieve, which will have annoyed many of them after such an impressive start.
Leeds fans – thoughts?
