I Hold No Grudges – Star Clear On Leeds United Exit, Looking At Self First | OneFootball

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Stockport County midfielder Lewis Bate has revealed that he felt like he was not ready for the Premier League during his time with Leeds United and holds no grudges against the Whites.

After coming through Chelsea’s youth academy, Bate joined Leeds United back in 2021 while the Whites were still in the Premier League to kick off his senior career.

He never managed to get a foothold in the team and was sent out on two separate loan spells to Oxford United and MK Dons before being offloaded to Stockport County last summer.

After an impressive season with Dave Challinor’s team in League One, Bate has caught the eye and won praise.

Looking back at his time with the Yorkshire club, Bate insisted that he was not ready for the Premier League when he was on the books at Leeds.

However, the midfielder is clear that he does not hold any grudges against the Whites for how things turned out at Elland Road for him.

“There has been frustrations along the way”, Bate told the BBC.

“I say of my time at Leeds that I wasn’t ready for the Premier League. I had my time, chances, and I look back and I am frustrated

“But I had my chances and I didn’t take them. I don’t hold any grudges. I look at myself before anyone else.

“I had to go to MK Dons, which is a fantastic football club, and I loved my time there.

“I was disappointed we didn’t get out of the league, we lost the play-offs, but everything seems to have worked out at Stockport.”

The midfielder now hopes to play in the Championship, a division that Leeds have just climbed their way out of.

“I hope to be in the Championship again, where I played with Leeds and carry on building from there with Stockport.”

Stockport are in the League One playoffs and will go up against Leyton Orient over two legs for a spot in the final at Wembley.