Mateusz Klich left Leeds United and completed a move to DC United in January.
The Poland international had 18 months left on his deal when the Whites released him. He spent more than five years at Elland Road and was a vital part of their squad that achieved promotion to the Premier League in 2020.
Klich saw his game time drastically reduced in his final months at Leeds. He was aware this was going to happen, but being overlooked by Jesse Marsch this season didn’t go down well with him.
WP SportoweFakty interviewed the 32-year-old, where he explained his idea was to leave the English club in 2024. He made this claim when asked if he was planning to move to the US.
“I wanted to finish my contract at Leeds and leave in one and a half years. Before the season, I knew that I would not be a starting player and I would be coming from the bench. I agreed to the role and was curious myself how I would handle it. I like to play football and I want to do it as often as possible,” he said.
“For the first few games it still looked good, I felt OK. After that we started to play very poorly and I think I should have had a few chances from the first minute of the game. However, I didn’t get any, which I was angry about.
“I saw that the coach was messing with the squad, throwing other players in different positions, and not taking me into account at all, although, for example, in the previous match I played well. Eventually I started to get nervous. It was pure ambition.”
The midfielder also revealed he turned down the opportunity to leave Leeds last summer.
“Yes, I had a loan offer from the Netherlands, but I decided that it was okay. In the end, it wasn’t a bad solution, but the “tails” in every league game at Leeds started to tire me. Over time, it didn’t bother me,” Klich explained.
Leeds sacked Marsch and appointed Javi Gracia as his successor last month. The former had stated he would have hoped the Pole stayed at Leeds. When asked whether he had to negotiate his exit from Elland Road, Klich detailed an interesting fact.
“The club has been great. Nobody wanted me to leave, but they understood my decision. Anyway, I wasn’t 100% convinced that I was doing the right thing either,” he stressed.
On saying goodbye to the fans, Klich said: “It was something great and I experienced it very much. I have friends in Leeds, an apartment, we had everything sorted out with the family. Six years in one place, however, is a lot, I’m not used to moving and changing clubs. I cried a lot, especially when people wrote to me. The fans asked me not to leave.”
Having spent over five years in England, WP SportoweFakty pressed Klich if Leeds is the place for him. The Pole explained: “I have 195 games at Leeds and when my contract was terminated, I told our directors that I would be back for those five games. We’ll see how it all goes.”
