On the final day of the 2017 January transfer window, Leeds United signed two highly-rated wingers in a last-ditch attempt to add some depth to Garry Monk’s play-off chasing squad.
Modou Barrow arrived from Swansea City while Alfonso Pedraza swapped Villarreal for West Yorkshire. Of the two, Barrow was certainly the most high profile. He arrived at Elland Road with 50 Premier League appearances under his belt after all.
Pedraza, meanwhile, was hardly a household name on the Castellon coast, let alone on the streets of Beeston.
Flash forward five years and, while one of Garry Monk’s winter signings is plying his trade in South Korea for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the other is strutting his stuff on the biggest stage of all.
Can Villarreal knock out Juventus?
As a club from a town boasting a population half the size of Darlington held Juventus to a 1-1 draw in the Champions League knockout stages on Tuesday night, Pedraza was not the only familiar face.
Dani Pareja, scorer of Villarreal’s second-half equaliser, once spent a brief and forgettable spell at QPR. He was set up by a glorious pass from former Tottenham flop Etienne Capoue.
Alberto Moreno started on the left. Gio Lo Celso as a number ten. Arnaut Danjuma led the line, going from the Championship to the Champions League in the blink of an eye.
But if there were any Leeds supporters tuning into that hard-fought last-16 tie at the Estadio de la Ceramica, they taken about by the performance of Pedraza.
Pedraza was arguably Villarreal’s most threatening attacker on the night, a constant menace down the left-hand side. It was he who set up Lo Celso’s early opener, the Spurs loanee clipping the post, while also carving out an opportunity for Moreno after one of those trademark drilled crosses from the by-line.
What might have been?
Pedraza’s short-lived spell at Elland Road ended in disappointment, a nagging sense of ‘what might have been’.
Leeds slipped agonisingly adrift of the play-off picture following a dreadful end to the season. But had Monk succeeded in doing what Marcelo Bielsa would achieve three years later, Pedraza might still be a Leeds United player right now.
If Leeds had been promoted, Pedraza would have signed permanently for a fee of £8.5 million (Yorkshire Post).
Instead, the Spanish speedster is fulfilling a lifelong ‘dream’, going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest clubs and most high-profile players the continent has to offer.
“(Champions League football) is a dream come true, for me and for my team-mates,” Pedraza tells Marca.
“To qualify like this (by winning the Europa League) is so special for us. It’s a dream that many of us who are here are going to fulfil.”
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