Leeds United are a club steeped in history.
The Whites have countless honours to their name, from league titles, to a European Cup final, to Cup Winner’s Cup triumphs, the Yorkshire club have been there and done almost everything.
They’ve had some fantastic players on their books throughout the years as well. We don’t need to tell you about the greats of the 1970s such as Gordon McQueen, Allan Clarke and Norman Hunter, but in more recent times we’ve seen the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Lucas Radebe and Lee Bowyer turn out for the club.
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Even since their relegation, they’ve boasted some of the EFL’s best players, with the likes of Jermaine Beckford, who would go on to play for Everton and Ross McCormack who won a Golden Boot at the club.
What do all the aforementioned players have in common? They’ve all won Leeds’ Player of the Year award, with Bowyer, McCormack and Beckford winning it twice, but despite the immense talent the club have had to offer over the years, only one player has ever won the award three times.
Indeed, Pablo Hernandez has been handed his third straight Player of the Year nod at the club, making him the first player in the 49-year history of the award to win it three times, and that surely has to put him in the conversation as one of Leeds’ all-time greats.
Ok, he isn’t a world-class talent like Ferdinand was, nor does he have the trophy haul of someone like Hunter, but he has arguably been United’s best player in the darkest period of their history, and his class and talent has eventually led them back to the Premier League.
Is Hernandez the best player to ever play for the Elland Road outfit? No, probably not, considering this is a club that have played in a Champions League semi-final in this millennium, but in terms of what he has done for the side and how important he has been as both a player and a figure, he has to be considered an all-time great.