Leeds United star Dan James reveals time he was kicked out of changing room

Leeds United star Dan James has revealed how he was once kicked out of the changing room at Swansea City. The winger came through at the Welsh club after making the move from Hull City as a youth prospect.

Within two years of joining the Swansea youth ranks, the now Wales international had made a first team appearance. It took just 33 league appearances to land a big-time move to Manchester United having almost joined Leeds.

And after a mixed spell at Old Trafford, he finally completed a move to Elland Road. This season he has come into his own, forming a key part of Daniel Farke’s squad as they push for automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

But like most players, the 26-year-old has learned a lesson or two along the way, and one came in the form of a changing room exile under former Swansea boss Carlos Carvaljal

“I did get sent out of the changing room once. He [Carvalhal] wasn’t actually that strict, he was a nice guy, funny,” James told Leeds’ official YouTube channel. “He always came out with crazy quotes after games and things. I was a young lad, I was in the first-team changing room, probably didn’t deserve to be in there because I wasn’t really in the squads, I was just kind of training with them.

“We go to the stadium, park there, and then get a bus to the training ground, which is two minutes away, for pre-match. I basically woke up, my phone was out of charge, I’d charged it, it’s 9:15am, everyone’s calling me.

"Obviously I’m a young lad, I’m panicking. They said, basically, ‘get yourself here now, we’re going to go over, so meet us at the training ground’. I’m thinking ‘I’m going to have to walk in here now, I’m going to be late, I’m a young lad’. I got a call halfway there so say I’m not in the squad now, which was obviously so tough." James added: “It was silly from me. I went to see him after the game, apologised, I was going with Wales the next day. He said ‘oh, it’s fine, don’t worry about it’. I said ‘I’m really sorry, it won’t happen again’.

"I got back and all my stuff had been moved from the first-team changing room to the [under] 23s. Obviously, it was super embarrassing but I learnt a lot from that.”