The news this week that Cody Drameh has no plans to sign a new contract with Leeds United came as no surprise to anyone, but will we come to regret not giving him more of a chance at Elland Road?
Phil Hay of The Athletic reported earlier this week that Drameh has no intention of accepting the club’s offer of a new contract to extend his stay at Elland Road beyond next summer due to a lack of first-team opportunities. You may be surprised that we are considering offering one, but it would be purely for the purpose of ensuring that we are entitled to a transfer fee.
The right back is already in the final year of his contract, but because he is 21, we only need to offer him an extension on his current terms in order for him to be eligible for compensation when it expires. As a result, the loan agreement that brought him to Birmingham included the option to convert it into a permanent transfer in the summer of 2024.
So, how did this happen? Only two years ago, his future appeared to be very different, as he was making good progress after joining us from Fulham in August 2020, having made a couple of appearances for our first team as well as for England under 20s and under 21s. However, the first rumblings of discontent were heard when Marcello Bielsa was dissatisfied with his decision to go out on loan in search of game time rather than continuing his development at Elland Road.
He would go on to make an impression at Cardiff, where he was named player of the year despite only being there for half the season. So I thought he’d be Luke Ayling‘s natural successor at right back in the 2021 offseason, and the timing would be about right. Drameh could be phased in while Ayling approached the veteran stage of his career and required rest for a few games, and he would be mature enough to take over once Ayling was finally put out to grass.
Jesse Marsch, on the other hand, chose to sign his old friend Rasmus Kristensen from Red Bull Salzburg. The Dane may have stood out in the Austrian league, but he was never good enough for the much higher standard of the Premier League, even if he was one of the few who remained concerned as our season unravelled. Nobody is surprised that he is now struggling to impress Jose Mourinho at Roma.
As restricted as he was, Kristensen‘s addition to the squad eliminated any chance of giving Drameh the game time he required in 2022/3, so he was off for another loan spell, this time to Luton Town, in January. He was to make 16 appearances for the remainder of their promotion campaign, and by the end of it, he had earned the Hatters’ interest in signing him on a permanent basis.
When that didn’t happen, I thought his time at Elland Road had come to an end, as he now had two impressive loan spells in the same division that Leeds would be playing in in 2023/4. He did start in the pre-season games, but a minor injury cost him the opportunity to stake a claim for a regular spot, though it’s been suggested that Daniel Farke wasn’t interested in him in the first place.
Rather than relying on Ayling until Drameh returned to fitness, Farke attempted to sign Norwich City’s Max Aarons. This could have been due to his desire to reunite with one of his key players from his Norwich promotion campaigns, but Drameh would only have one more chance when Aarons chose to join Bournemouth instead.
Perhaps the final straw came in the game against Ipswich at the end of August, when a first-half injury forced Byram to play in the unfamiliar role of left back. He struggled to adjust to this position, and a lapse in concentration just before halftime resulted in the ball running under his foot. He dashed to stop it from going out for a throw, but lost sight of where the players were on the pitch behind him.
In a panic, he played a backpass straight to an Ipswich player, kicking off the move that resulted in their second goal. Farke had had enough, and Drameh was ‘hooked’ at halftime, having endured the humiliation of being a substitute who is then substituted, after only 25 minutes on the pitch. And it now seems almost certain that this was his final appearance in a Leeds shirt.
Djed Spence had arrived on loan by the end of the transfer window, and Drameh had exited through the same revolving door to begin yet another loan spell, this time at Birmingham City. Farke described the deal as a “smart move for all parties,” citing the defender’s desire to play regular football, but the manager must have known it effectively ended Drameh’s Leeds career.
He struggled during his first appearance for the St. Andrew’s mob due to a lack of match fitness, according to all accounts, but his form has improved since. When Leeds Live asked Birmingham colleague Alex Dicken how he was doing, he was told that “Drameh has improved noticeably in the past month to the point where he was one of Blues’ best players in their victory over West Brom before the international break.”
“He had back-to-back assists last week and played excellent defence.” He hasn’t been flawless, but Drameh has improved with each pitch.” As a result, it appears that Birmingham will exercise their option to sign him, though he will need to impress his new manager Wayne Rooney. And he appears to be acutely aware of the need to do so, having made a few comments in support of the spud-faced scouser to the local press.
Will Leeds come to regret his departure in the coming years? Even though he’d be unlikely to do so with Birmingham City, he could make it to the Premier League by his peak years. There have been suggestions that his lack of progress at Elland Road was due to an attitude problem, but he appears to have fit in well at the clubs he’s represented on loan.
And while some fans believe he’s not good enough for Leeds or that we’re too big a club for him, I’m sorry to see him go and believe he could have done a job for him. Djed Spence will most likely be a more than adequate replacement once he is fit, but at the end of the season, we will have to pay a fee to sign him permanently, rather than using a player we already had and saving the money to sign someone else.
Cody Drameh has my best wishes for the rest of his career.
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