£20m Leeds United exit opens up on feeling 'irrelevant' during relegation fight and bizarre injury cause

Tyler Adams admits he 'fell off a cliff' during an injury-plagued year in which he experienced the disappointment of relegation with Leeds United.

Adams missed the final 12 matches of last season, following surgery on a serious hamstring injury last March. The American was helpless on the sidelines as Leeds failed to win any of their final nine games before eventually dropping down to the Championship.

Adams was one of several to force a move away from Elland Road due to a release clause in his contract, with the midfielder joining Bournemouth for £20million in August. He arrived on the south coast injured and required surgery again in October, only returning off the bench against Luton Town last week.

“You learn a lot about yourself in those tough moments because in those moments there's no headlines about you,” Adams told reporters ahead of the USMNT’s friendly against Jamaica. “There's no people talking about you anymore.

“All of a sudden you fall off a cliff and you’re kind of irrelevant in that moment. But for me I kind of enjoyed that, if I’m being completely honest with you, after such a whirlwind of a season, after the World Cup, after everything, my world kind of flipped upside down for a brief moment. And being injured I just had a moment to regroup.”

Adams had been one of Leeds' most consistent performers last season, starting all but three of the Premier League matches that came before his injury. It was in the build-up to the 4-2 win over Wolves that the injury first surfaced and the former Whited man revealed it was while trying to backheel a ball in training.

“Doesn't really happen that you end up rupturing your hamstring in that way,” he added of the unfortunate incident. “Then I had surgery maybe a week later. Injured it eight weeks in, again passing the ball, which doesn't happen frequently. Waited 12 weeks again. Did it again, passing the ball, then had another operation and then now here we are.”