Jansson: ‘I knew straight away Leeds would be my home’

Mark Scott
Pontus Jansson: Missing again

Pontus Jansson: Missing again

Pontus Jansson has said he always knew he would sign for Leeds permanently after experiencing an instant “special feeling” with the club.

The big fan favourite has agreed a three-year contract with the Whites that will see him leave Serie A side Torino for a reported fee of £3.5million.

The deal ties him down at Elland Road until the 2019/20 season and the Swede said there was never any doubt about where his future was going to be as soon as he arrived at Elland Road.

“Since the first day. I had a good feeling when I came here. I thought it would be a good move for me,” Jansson told LUTV.

“He (Monk) gave me a big hug. It was so important to me. In Italy it is so different. It was a special feeling, I knew it would be my new home.”

Now Jansson has his eyes firmly set on what would be a career-defining achievement of reaching the Premier League.

He added: “We are not close [to automatic promotion] but we are on the right way, and if we go there it is going to be the biggest memory of my life.”

Leeds United also added wingers Alfonso Pedraza and Modou Barrow on loan deals late in the transfer window, and Monk believes the new additions are exactly what the squad needed for latter stages of the season.

“I`m really happy with the two players we managed to bring in on transfer deadline day,” Monk told the club’s official website.

“They are the exact profile of player which will help the group we have, we have very good players here and all I want to do is support them.

“When it comes to this stage of the season, you need to have a number of options for different games and I think the group needed that.

“I said before the window that we needed to strengthen, not weaken the team and I think we have done that with our two additions.”

Leeds make the short trip to Huddersfield on Sunday lunchtime in what promises to be a feisty West Yorkshire derby.