It is hard to believe it has been more than six years since Leeds United finally ended that miserable 16-year wait for Premier League football.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side did not sneak over the line, either.
Leeds won the Championship with 93 points, finishing 10 points clear of West Bromwich Albion. It was the culmination of years of near misses, play-off heartbreak and false dawns.
The players from that squad became legends.
But six years is a long time in football.
Some are still playing in the Premier League. Some are in the lower leagues. Others have retired, while one of the team’s most famous members has gone from El Mago to managing in Spain.
Here is what happened to every Leeds player who made a first-team appearance during the 2019/20 promotion campaign.
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Kiko Casilla
Casilla started the season as Bielsa’s first-choice goalkeeper and made 36 Championship appearances.
He eventually lost his place to Illan Meslier during the run-in and left Leeds in 2022 after his contract was terminated.
His career then took him to Getafe, where he finished before retiring in 2023. He has since undertaken football administration studies with the Spanish FA.
Illan Meslier
Meslier’s story is one of the more remarkable ones.
He arrived from Lorient on loan in 2019 and was still only 19 when he joined Leeds. Bielsa eventually handed him the gloves, and he started 10 of the final 11 league matches, conceding only five goals as Leeds sealed promotion.
After seven years at Elland Road, Meslier left this summer.
And where did he end up?
Arsenal.
The 26-year-old joined the Premier League champions on a free transfer and is now part of Mikel Arteta’s squad.
Luke Ayling
Ayling was one of the faces of the Bielsa era.
He made 37 league appearances during the title-winning campaign and scored that unforgettable volley against Huddersfield.
After almost eight years at Leeds, he joined Middlesbrough in 2024.
He is still there.
Ayling signed a new contract in March 2026, keeping him at Boro until 2027, and has increasingly been used as a centre-back or in a back three.
Ben White
Technically, White was only a Leeds player for one season.
But what a season it was.
The Brighton loanee started all 46 Championship matches and was one of the division’s best defenders.
Leeds tried to sign him permanently, but Brighton held firm. White eventually moved to Arsenal for around £50m and has since established himself as a Premier League and Champions League defender.
Liam Cooper
The captain lifted the trophy.
Cooper made 38 league appearances and was one of the dressing room leaders who finally got Leeds over the line.
His decade at Elland Road ended in 2024, after which he moved to CSKA Sofia.
He subsequently returned to England with Sheffield Wednesday in November 2025.
Gaetano Berardi
Berardi was another cult hero of the Bielsa era.
The Swiss defender was never a guaranteed starter but was enormously popular and made 22 league appearances during the promotion season.
He retired from playing in 2023 and has since moved into coaching.
In 2026, he took charge of Ospitaletto’s Primavera side in Italy after earlier coaching roles with Brescia’s youth teams and Pro Palazzolo.
Ezgjan Alioski
Alioski went from winger to marauding left-back under Bielsa and became one of the most entertaining players in the squad.
He made 39 league appearances and scored five times during the promotion campaign.
After leaving Leeds in 2021, he spent time with Al-Ahli and Fenerbahce before returning to FC Lugano in Switzerland.
And he is still going.
Alioski remains a Lugano player in 2026, more than a decade after he first played for the club.
Barry Douglas
Douglas had already won the Championship with Wolves before joining Leeds, so he knew what it took.
His role became increasingly limited under Bielsa, with six starts and nine substitute appearances in the league.
He eventually returned to Lech Poznan, then finished his career with St Johnstone.
In April 2026, Douglas officially announced his retirement from professional football.
Stuart Dallas
There might never be another Leeds player quite like Dallas.
He could play left-back, right-back or midfield and seemed to be good at everything Bielsa asked him to do.
Dallas made 45 appearances in 2019/20 and scored five goals.
His career ended prematurely after a horrific knee injury against Manchester City in 2022. He officially retired in 2024 after making 267 appearances for Leeds.
These days, he has moved into punditry, including work with Sky Sports.
Kalvin Phillips
Phillips went from Leeds academy player to Yorkshire Pirlo and eventually an England international.
He made 37 league appearances in the promotion campaign and became one of the most important players in Bielsa’s side.
Manchester City paid around £45m for him in 2022.
Unfortunately, his move to the Etihad never really worked.
After loan spells at West Ham and Ipswich, Phillips is now trying to rebuild his career at Sheffield United.
Mateusz Klich
Klich was Bielsa’s midfield metronome.
He played 45 times in all competitions during the promotion season and became one of the most recognisable faces of that side.
After leaving Leeds in 2023, he moved to DC United and then Atlanta United before returning to Poland.
Klich is now back at his boyhood club Cracovia, where he remains a senior figure in midfield.
Adam Forshaw
Forshaw’s 2019/20 campaign was badly disrupted by injury, limiting him to seven league appearances.
He stayed at Leeds until 2023 before moving to Norwich, then Plymouth Argyle.
At 34, he is still going.
Forshaw joined Blackburn Rovers in 2025 and signed a contract extension in April 2026, keeping him at Ewood Park through the 2026/27 season.
Jamie Shackleton
Another academy graduate, Shackleton made 22 league appearances during the promotion campaign.
He eventually left Leeds in 2024 and has now joined Sheffield United.
The 26-year-old remains in the Championship and has been used mainly as a versatile defender.
Pablo Hernandez
And then there is El Mago.
Hernández was the creative heartbeat of Bielsa’s Leeds, scoring nine league goals in 36 appearances during the promotion campaign.
He retired from playing after finishing his career at Castellon.
But he did not stay away from football for long.
Hernández is now Castellon’s manager, the club he grew up supporting. He was handed a new contract through 2029 in June 2026 after guiding the club to the promotion play-offs.
From creating goals for Bamford at Elland Road to running the touchline in Spain. Not a bad second act.
Helder Costa
Costa was one of Leeds’ most-used attacking players, making 43 league appearances and scoring four goals.
His Leeds career never quite reached the heights some expected after his £15m move from Wolves.
He eventually left permanently and has since played in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Costa is now back in Angola with Petro de Luanda, where he signed in May 2026.
Jack Harrison
Harrison played all 46 league matches in the promotion campaign, scoring six goals and providing eight assists.
He eventually became a permanent Leeds player after his initial loan spells from Manchester City.
After subsequent loan spells at Everton and Fiorentina, his long Leeds story finally ended this summer.
Harrison joined New England Revolution on a permanent transfer last summer and signed a contract running through the 2029-30 MLS season.
He made 219 appearances for Leeds in total.
Tyler Roberts
Roberts was only 20 during the promotion season and made 23 league appearances.
His Leeds career never quite reached the level many expected, and he eventually left for Birmingham City in 2023.
After loans with Northampton Town and Mansfield, Roberts made his move to Mansfield permanent in 2026.
He remains with the Stags in League One.
Patrick Bamford
Bamford was the man tasked with putting the ball in the net.
He delivered.
The striker scored 16 league goals in the promotion campaign and finished as Leeds’ leading scorer.
He went on to spend seven years at Elland Road, win another Championship title, and become one of the defining players of the Bielsa era.
Leeds released him in 2025, and Bamford subsequently joined Sheffield United.
He remains with the Blades and has already made an impact at Bramall Lane.
Eddie Nketiah
Nketiah was brought in from Arsenal on loan to provide competition for Bamford.
He scored three Championship goals in 17 appearances before Arsenal recalled him in January 2020.
He eventually became a permanent Arsenal player before moving to Crystal Palace.
He remains at Palace in 2026 and is still only 27.
Jean-Kevin Augustin
One of the strangest Leeds transfers ever.
Augustin joined on loan from RB Leipzig in January 2020 but barely played before the pandemic brought the season to a halt.
He made only a handful of appearances and never scored for Leeds before the subsequent legal dispute over the permanent transfer became one of the strangest chapters in the club’s recent history.
He has continued his career around Europe and, in 2026, joined Swiss second-tier side Yverdon Sport.
Ian Poveda
Poveda made only a handful of appearances but was one of the younger members of the squad.
He left Leeds in 2024 after making 25 league appearances in total.
After Sunderland, Poveda returned to South America and is now playing for Atletico Nacional in Colombia. He has been getting regular minutes and has scored five goals in 2026.
Jack Clarke
Clarke’s Leeds career was already over by the time the club lifted the trophy.
He had joined Tottenham in 2019 and subsequently rebuilt his career at Sunderland.
He is now at Ipswich Town and is playing in the Premier League this season.
Jordan Stevens
Stevens made only a single league appearance during the title-winning season.
His subsequent career has taken him down the divisions, with spells at Swindon, Bradford City, Barrow and Yeovil.
He is now playing for Ilkeston Town in the Northern Premier League.
Mateusz Bogusz
Bogusz was still only 17 when he joined Leeds and made just one league appearance during the promotion campaign.
His development took him away from England, with loan spells in Spain before a permanent move to MLS side Los Angeles FC.
He later moved to Cruz Azul and, in January 2026, joined Houston Dynamo.
He has since become a Poland international.
Robbie Gotts
Gotts made one Championship appearance in 2019/20, but he was named Leeds’ Academy Player of the Year that season.
He eventually left the club and established himself in the Football League with Barrow.
Now 26, Gotts plays for Doncaster Rovers in League One and has started the majority of their matches this season.
Alfie McCalmont
McCalmont was another academy player who made only a very brief first-team contribution.
He went out on loan to Oldham, Morecambe and Carlisle before leaving Leeds permanently.
He spent two seasons with Central Coast Mariners in Australia before returning to England in September 2026, joining Gateshead on a free transfer.
Oliver Casey
Casey made just one Championship appearance during the promotion campaign.
He left Leeds for Blackpool in 2021 and has gradually established himself as a regular at Bloomfield Road.
He remains with Blackpool in 2026/27 and has been a first-choice centre-back in League One.
Pascal Struijk
Struijk barely featured during the promotion campaign, making only a handful of appearances.
He would go on to become one of the most important defenders of the post-Bielsa era, however, eventually making 196 appearances for Leeds.
His time at Elland Road finally ended this summer.
Brighton paid around £20m for the centre-back, who signed a five-year contract after helping Leeds stay in the Premier League and reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
Six years on, they have gone everywhere
Look at that squad now, and it is almost impossible to believe they were all part of the same story.
White is playing Champions League football.
Meslier is at Arsenal.
Phillips is trying to rediscover his best form.
Harrison is back in MLS.
Bamford is across Yorkshire with Sheffield United.
Ayling is still going in the Championship.
Dallas and Douglas have retired.
Berardi has started coaching.
And Hernández has gone one step further, becoming a manager in his own right.
Then there are the younger players who have taken completely different routes, from Bogusz in MLS to Poveda in Colombia and McCalmont in the National League.
That is football.
The 2019/20 Leeds squad existed for one glorious season, but the careers that followed could hardly have been more different.
Some reached the very top. Some dropped down the divisions. Some are now coaches. Some are still trying to find their next chapter.
But they will always have one thing in common.
They were the players who finally brought Leeds United back to the Premier League.
