Cody Drameh played fewer than 50 per cent of Cardiff City’s Championship games in 2021/22.
So the fact that the Leeds United loanee was named their Player of the Season, despite only arriving midway through the campaign, is a testament not only to how much the rest of Steve Morison’s squad underperformed but also how impressive and immediate an impact Drameh made in just four months in South Wales.
“I don’t think anyone else in the league would mind having him. He has been top drawer,” Morison tells Wales Online of the rampaging right-back. “He is a great kid and he deserved all the awards he’s got.
“He’s a top example to any of our young players. If they want to know how to get to the top and be as good as him – take a leaf out of his book.
“He came out in Champions League football boots the other day and he said; ‘That’s where I want to get to’. He will get there. He has got that in him. If we had 11 Cody Dramehs we wouldn’t be far away.”
What next for Cody Drameh at Leeds United?
It takes a brave man to go against the orders of Marcelo Bielsa. Drameh, however, stared the dragon in the face last January and survived with only a light scorching.
Bielsa was far from pleased after the former Fulham teen forced a move away from a Leeds hovering nervously over the relegation zone, swapping his back-up role at Elland Road for a starting berth at Cardiff (Daily Mail).
But Drameh walked onto the stage four months later, dusting off his dinner jacket before picking up the Bluebirds’ Player of the Season award on the back of his longest sustained run of first-team football, a lesser man would have been tempted to utter those three immortal words.
‘Told you so’.
Leeds United target Rasmus Kristensen
Jesse Marsch be warned.
Even at just 20 years of age, Drameh is not the sort of character who will readily accept a back-seat role.
Reports from The Athletic suggesting that Marsch is hoping to reunite with his former Red Bull Salzburg right-back Rasmus Kristensen – the swashbuckling Dane is available for a bargain £10 million – are unlikely to be received all-that warmly by arguably the most exciting young player in a squad chock-full of exciting young players.
According to the Yorkshire Post, Drameh has spoken to Marsch already, outlining a desire to force his way into Leeds’ starting XI as soon as next season. And as Bielsa discovered, if Leeds cannot meet his demands, Drameh won’t stick around for long.
Football is a short career, and Drameh obviously feels he has no time to lose.
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