The centre-back has proven to be an almighty coup for Leeds United.
Leeds United may have spent 13 consecutive years outside the top flight in English football, even enduring the odd campaign alongside the Walsalls and the Stockports in League One, but their achievements of yesteryear are not to easily forgotten.
According to Pontus Jansson, the man with a magic hat at the heart of their promotion push, Leeds have retained that reputation, that stature and that pulling power across the continent, as reported by the club’s official Twitter account.
“It’s a big club, I knew before I came that it was a big club with a lot of people who follow it. It’s big in all of Scandinavia,” the cult-hero centre-back said in a Q&A on the Leeds Twitter feed.
“Not only at Elland Road, also away because we always have a lot of fans with us. The fans singing about us, supporting us every game, so I’m thankful I can be one of the eleven players to start the game.”
The fact that Leeds, a club who at the start of the season had not troubled the play-offs in a decade, could attract a player from the top flight of Italian football speaks volumes about their reach.
Jansson endured a horrific spell with Torino and he jumped at the chance of moving to Elland Road on loan in the summer and then permanently last month, despite reported interest from the Premier League.
Pablo Hernandez, arguably the silkiest player in the second tier, made his temporary deal permanent just a few days earlier.
A former Spanish international who played in the Champions League with Valencia and the Premier League with Swansea, it is doubtful whether many other clubs outside the top flight could have attracted the 31-year-old.
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