Stockport County Sign Former Leeds United Man

Stockport County have announced the signing of former Leeds United midfielder Lewis Bate on a three-year contract after his three-year stay with the Championship side came to an end.

The 21-year-old midfielder spent last season on loan at MK Dons as they lost out in their League Two play-off semi-final with Crawley Town.

The midfielder becomes County’s fifth summer signing after the likes of Jayden Fevrier and Callum Connolly.

Speaking with the club’s media team via their official website manager Dave Challinor had this to say.

“Lewis is a player that we attempted to sign in January but it wasn’t to be. From that point, we’ve kept an eye on his situation and when we knew he was being released by Leeds, we immediately renewed our interest.

“We’ve had to be really patient as there was interest in Lewis from higher up, but thankfully our patience has been rewarded.

“For some time now, we’ve felt that our biggest evolution as a team would come from a ball playing midfielder that will not only receive the ball in tight areas but manipulate space and play forward, as well as driving forward when the opportunity presents.

“Lewis is fantastic at all of these things and will be of huge importance to our development. Personally, for him, playing in the Premier League and Championship is where he wants to get back to and we really feel he has every opportunity for that to be the case.”

Who is Lewis Bate?

Lewis a former England U20 International came through the academy of Chelsea, before heading for Leeds United for the 21/22 season, where he made his Premier League debut off the bench against West Ham United.

He spent the 22/23 season with League One side Oxford United where the midfielder would go on to make 35 appearances scoring once and assisting four.

Upon returning to Leeds for the 23/24 season, the midfielder, Lewis only made the squad for the first three Championship games of the season, before heading out on loan to MK Dons in January where he would go on to make 22 appearances, including the two playoff matches vs Crawley Town.

Another good signing for Stockport?

In terms of midfield manipulators, there aren’t much better from League Two than Bate, the midfielder was in the 98% percentile for pass accuracy per 90 as well as the top 70% percentile for chances created per 90.

The midfielder tends to play deeper in midfield as part of a two, if manager Dave Challinor continues with his three at the back system, he will fit nicely into the team, providing progressive passes into County’s attacking midfielder.

They did release Antoni Sarcevic who has moved to League Two side Bradford City and other midfielder Ryan Croasdale has gone to Port Vale so squad depth would be vital.

Stockport now have a lot of quality to their midfield ranks, with William Collar, Callum Camps, and Nick Powell all being able to play the deeper role.