Leif Davis (born 31 December 1999) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He can also play as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, he started his career at English youth football club

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

in Wallsend, North Tyneside. On 27 June 2016, Davis joined

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

where he would come through the ranks of the academy.

Leeds United

On 4 July 2018, Davis joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side Leeds United under head coach

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

for an undisclosed fee, where he initially linked up with the Leeds academy. After impressing for Leeds' Under 23s, Davis was promoted to the first team and was named as an unused substitute on several occasions by head coach Bielsa before making his debut for the club on 23 December 2018, when he started in a 3–2 win against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

after Barry Douglas fell ill before kickoff. With Davis potentially set for a spell in the side, after injuries to left backs Barry Douglas and Ezgjan Alioski, Davis himself was ruled out for the remainder of the season including Leeds' playoff campaign after knee surgery. Davis was regularly named as an unused substitute on the bench for the first team squad in the Championship, but still featured regularly for

Carlos Corberán Carlos Corberán Vallet (born 7 April 1983) is a Spanish football coach who is currently head coach of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Previously the head coach of Doxa and Ermis in the Cypriot First Division, Corberán was first ...

's Leeds United under 23s side over the course the 2018–19 season, that won the PDL Northern League 2018–19 season and became the national Professional Development League champions by beating

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in the final. After the English professional football season was paused in March 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, the season was resumed during June, where Davis earned promotion with Leeds to the Premier League and also become the EFL Championship Champions for the 2019–20 season in July after the successful resumption of the season. His first start of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season came on 16 September 2020 in Leeds' 1–1 draw against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. Hull went on to win 9–8 on penalties. Davis made his Premier League debut for Leeds, as a second half substitute in Leeds' 1–1 draw with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 3 October 2020.

AFC Bournemouth (loan)

On 27 July 2021, Davis joined Championship side

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

on a season-long loan deal. He made his debut for the club coming on as a late sub in the Cherries 2–1 win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Davis then made his first start for Bournemouth in an unfamiliar right wing role, in a 0–2 away win at

Ipswich Town

On 25 July 2022, Davis joined

on a three-year contract for a seven-figure fee.

Style of play

Davis predominantly plays as a left back. He was converted by

to also play as a centre back. Davis describes his style as a "a modern-day, attacking left-back".

Career statistics

Honours

Leeds United *

: 2019–20 AFC Bournemouth *EFL Championship runner-up: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the Ipswich Town F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Leif 1999 births Living people Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English footballers Association football fullbacks Wallsend Boys Club players Morecambe F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Ipswich Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players