Bailey Peacock-Farrell expects further smooth transitions from Leeds United Academy

Then 19, the goalkeeper took his place between the posts for the Championship encounter at home to Queens Park Rangers on April 5, 2016.

The big day came three years after joining United’s Academy, having been released by Middlesbrough.

Now 22, it means the custodian is already backed by over half-a-decade at Leeds – plenty of time to learn United’s “morals and values.”

Three years after he made his first Whites start, Peacock-Farrell knows younger Whites Academy graduates are highly likely to be facing similar scenarios next term with precocious talents continuing to burst through the ranks at Thorp Arch.

Peacock-Farrell says the club’s youngsters have all had exactly the right upbringing at Leeds – something that is installed in those as young as eight.

Peacock-Farrell is a long way down the line in the chronological list of Whites Academy graduates making their debuts.

The goalkeeper’s big day came under Steve Evans and a whole host of followed since be it under Garry Monk, Thomas Christiansen, Paul Heckingbottom or Marcelo Bielsa.

Jamie Shackleton and Jack Clarke proved the main breakthroughs of last season but the season finished with the likes of Academy prospects Mateusz Bogusz and Robbie Gotts appearing on the bench with their Whites debuts likely to be in the offing soon.

Given the recent stability at Elland Road, the goalkeeper is confident that any youngster stepping into the team next season will make a seamless transition.

“It’s great,” said Peacock-Farrell.

“We have still got that same core of players at the club and we have been together now for a fair few years, with maybe one or two additions.

“If you can add an Academy player, although it might be his first season in the first team he will still have been at Leeds for several years so he knows the morals, the values of what it takes and how you need to act with the first team. I think Leeds do that transition really well.

“They bring up young players to always have the right mindset and the right beliefs and they always seem to just integrate into the squad seamlessly because we all share the same beliefs, from Under-8s all the way up to the first team.

“We all have those values and to have pretty much the same group of players together can only be a strong point.”

Five days after returning to pre-season training, Peacock-Farrell is facing a strong battle to reclaim the No 1 jersey that had previously become his.

The Darlington-born player found himself behind new summer recruit Rob Green for the 2016-17 season with Leeds then turning to Felix Wiedwald at the start of the following campaign.

A series of calamitous errors from the German gave Peacock-Farrell his chance in March, 2018 with the goalkeeper then first choice for the next six months. Ultimately, he was set to be replaced by Jamal Blackman last autumn only for the Chelsea loanee to break his leg.

Peacock-Farrell found himself keeping the No 1 jersey but was then back on the bench in January as United signed three-times Champions League winning goalkeeper Kiko Casilla from Real Madrid.

Peacock-Farrell now has his eyes set on reclaiming the jersey with the 22-year-old choosing to report back at Thorp Arch one week earlier than was required.

Having represented Northern Ireland in two European Championships qualifiers on June 8 and June 11 alongside Whites team-mate Stuart Dallas, the goalkeeper was given the option of taking another week off before returning to pre-season training but he was among the vast majority of players back at Thorp Arch on Monday.

“I knew if I took that extra week off I would probably regret when I was there and I wouldn’t be able to relax anyway,” explained Peacock-Farrell.

“I want to fight and to push for my chance to play in the first team here so I think the best way for me to do that was to be here on the first day of pre-season training.”