Leeds United's newest 'leader' sends relegation warning to Whites' Premier League rivals

24-year-old Wober signed from FC Red Bull Salzburg earlier this month and has featured prominently already for Jesse Marsch’s side. Introduced from the bench for his debut at Cardiff City in the FA Cup Third Round, Wober played in defensive midfield, before deputising in a hybrid left-back/left centre-back role against Aston Villa.

Wober made his full Premier League debut in the 0-0 draw against Brentford at centre-half, partnering Robin Koch in Liam Cooper’s absence. Following the match, in which Leeds defended particularly well, Marsch commended the defensive performance, having previously described him as a leader on his arrival at the club.

“Well, the one thing I know about Max is he's a leader. He is a very intelligent player and he's gifted. In that sense, he can play multiple positions.

“As a starting point, that's how we will be thinking about him, how we can use him at left-back or how we use Pascal [Struijk] a little bit at left-back or centre-back. He can play left centre-back and he can play as a six."

Marsch reiterated his leadership belief following Wober’s Leeds bow, too: “Max [Wober], for a young player, he’s very mature, he’s a leader.”

“He absolutely calms things down and helped make the right decisions to bring us back into the game,” Marsch said after the Austrian’s debut at the Cardiff City Stadium.

It was the 24-year-old’s turn to conduct post-match media duties after the stalemate with Brentford and Wober struck a confident tone with his prediction for the second half of the campaign.

"There are six, seven, eight teams down there and we know what kind of situation we are [in],” he said. “But I know if we keep on playing like this and still get a positive atmosphere in the dressing room, work hard every week, I know when we play like this we're going to get results 100 per cent.”

Leeds’ next Premier League encounter is against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest who most recently added ex-Whites striker Chris Wood on loan from Newcastle United.