Brentford's Thomas Frank assesses Pontus Jansson's Leeds United return amid Elland Road inspiration

The 30-year-old central defender will return to West Yorkshire for the second time since departing the club in 2019 having failed to win promotion from the Championship.

Jansson became a fan favourite during his time at Leeds, making 120 appearances before his move to West London in the wake of play-off defeat.

“I think he’s looking forward to it. He always praises Leeds massively, that was a fantastic time in his career to be there," Frank said ahead of kick-off.

“I don’t know if it’s important, but I think he actually fell in love a couple of times in his life: in Malmo, of course, then Leeds and now Brentford, so I don’t know if he is speaking to his wife how he is going to explain that one.

“He’s a man that is capable of having a lot of love in him and I think that is fantastic. For him in some ways, it’s a special feeling to go on the pitch even more than the first time in the Championship because he wanted badly to get promoted with Leeds.

“For whatever reason, it didn’t happen and now it’s happened with Brentford, both teams are in the Premier League, so hopefully it’s just going to be a very, very nice occasion.”

Frank also says Leeds have provided inspiration to the Bees for how they attacked their first term in the top flight last year, as they finished ninth in the standings.

“You have your own belief as a manager or head coach or as a club," Frank added.

"I believe so much in our players and what they are capable of, but I also need to create some narratives and look at other clubs and what they have done just to get inspiration.

“Leeds definitely are an inspiration for that, Wolves, I think Sheffield United as well – their first season was also brilliant.

“Those were three clubs I looked at and thought I’d take the best bits from them and see if I could tweak it a bit around the style we have in terms of how we do it.”