It was another anonymous outing for £30m club-record signing Daniel James as Leeds United were thrashed by Premier League leaders Manchester City at Elland Road on Saturday evening.

The Yorkshire giants weren't expected to pick up any sort of result against Pep Guardiola's men but the 4-0 defeat only adds to their relegation worries with the side now sitting in the final safety spot, five points clear of Everton, who face Chelsea later today.

It could go down to the wire and Jesse Marsch will need his top stars to step up and be counted, especially those that have cost the club a hefty amount, such as the Wales international.

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Initially named on the bench for this encounter, the 24-year-old winger was called upon just before halftime as he replaced the injured Stuart Dallas.

The American head coach clearly felt as if the former Manchester United man could swing the game in their favour somewhat, having only been one-nil down at the break.

However, the rampant visitors came out all guns blazing in the second half and it left James something of a ghost-like figure throughout the 45 or so minutes he was on the pitch.

As per SofaScore, he registered only 13 touches of the ball - one every 3.5 minutes. That was even fewer than goalkeeper Illan Meslier (35), who managed to see the ball once every 2.5 minutes at least.

Even fellow substitute Joe Gelhardt managed more touches (14) in only 28 minutes and he was left playing a lone striker's role, a rather damning indictment on James' impact or lack of.

With such little involvement, the struggling Welsh dynamo was only able to muster up four accurate passes from seven attempts (57%), whilst he did miss one big chance with his only shot on target.

On that evidence, the £45m-rated star badly failed Marsch in his attempts to try and salvage something for the Yorkshire side up against the defending champions.

He's now failed to score since early February with only two assists across his last ten appearances in the Whites' strip.

It's got to be massively concerning for the Leeds boss at this point.

AND in other news, 78% duels lost: Leeds' "woeful" £55k-p/w liability drops another disasterclass vs City...