Earlier this week we spoke about one of Leeds’ worst sales in history in the shape of Kasper Schmeichel, but now it’s time to look at one of the smartest sales the club ever made.

Back in 2014, Ross McCormack was the hottest property outside of the Premier League, he’d just won the Championship Golden Boot and was scoring all types of goals including long-range screamers and picture-perfect free-kicks.

All in all, McCormack scored 58 times for Leeds, and that made him a highly-coveted player at that level.

Unfortunately, Leeds weren’t the force they are today, and the Scot was ripe for the picking for any club with bigger ambitions, and eventually, newly-relegated Fulham signed him for £11m as they tried to navigate their way out of the Championship at the first time of asking.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go that way for Fulham or McCormack. The Scot was the London club’s top scorer, netting 17 in the league, but the team was too reliant on him, finishing 17th at the end of the season.

It was more of the same next season, McCormack bagged 21 times as Fulham finished 20th, and his good goal return earned him another big-money move, joining Aston Villa for £12m.

Meanwhile, Leeds were busy unearthing a striker better than McCormack with Chris Wood winning a Championship Golden Boot of his own before getting a Premier League move.

McCormack’s move to Aston Villa signalled the start of a huge decline. He would only score three goals for the Villans before being slammed for his fitness and becoming a forgotten man at Villa Park.

What followed was a litany of unprofessional behaviour, he missed training because his gate at his house wouldn’t open and was pictured looking out of shape asleep on a sofa in Magaluf just weeks after his Villa contract was terminated.

Nowadays he turns out for National League outfit Aldershot Town, and while transfermarkt value him at £1.08m, it’s hard to imagine that any club will pay a fee for him ever again.

Leeds got out at the perfect time, they cashed in and unearthed a better striker just a couple of years before his career went off the rails.

McCormack is undoubtedly one of the most talented players to have turned out at Elland Road in the 2010s, but Leeds can be happy with the fact that they didn’t hold onto him for any longer than they needed to.