Lewis Cook has insisted that he did not allow the off-the-field drama at Leeds United to affect him as he kept his focus on playing football.
A product of the Leeds academy, the midfielder made his debut for the club under one of Massimo Cellino’s infamous managerial appointments, David Hockaday, in 2014.
Cook left Leeds for Bournemouth in 2016, but during his two years in the first team, he played under a number of managers with Cellino making eccentric decisions behind the scenes.
The midfielder insisted that he enjoyed getting his first taste of senior football at Leeds and the surroundings at Elland Road helped him to develop as a footballer quickly.
“It was my first time in professional first-team football and I was thinking, ‘Oh, is this how it happens?’” Cook told The Athletic.
“But I learned a lot from my time there. It was different. I feel like I grew up quite quickly.”
In one of the former Leeds owner’s more infamous decisions, he sacked the cleaning staff at Thorp Arch to save costs and made the Under-18s take their place.
Cook insisted that he made sure that he focused on football and did not allow the problems behind the scenes to affect his game or development.
“I was loving my time there. I’m not going to lie.
“It was the first time I had been in the first team and I was playing every week, so I really couldn’t complain at all.
“Yeah, a lot of stuff might have been going on, but I was just focusing on football.”
