Middlesbrough have acquired Leeds United Professional Development Phase Coach Danny Schofield, as noted by Teesside Live.
The former Huddersfield Town midfielder moved to the Riverside Stadium outfit earlier in the week, and is understood to have taken up a position in Boro’s Under 23s set-up as the assistant lead coach to Graeme Lee, who succeeded Paul Stephenson at the helm this summer.
Schofield held the same position as part of the Whites’ academy fold, and was a key member of Carlos Corberan’s team, that has produced talents like Jack Clarke, Jamie Shackleton and Leif Davis in recent years, and is helping Ryan Edmondson, Mateusz Bogusz and Alfie McCalmont edge closer to senior football.
The 39-year-old had occupied a position in our Under 18s before securing a promotion to the U23s, but has left for Middlesbrough, and thought to have overseen his first Boro youth game on Friday afternoon against Swansea City.
Losing the former Terriers midfielder – who played almost 300 games for the West Yorkshire side – will be a loss that shakes United’s foundations at Thorp Arch, as his position was well-respected by club chiefs, who instilled Schofield as the interim U23s manager last summer when Marcelo Bielsa sought to promote Corberan into the senior backroom staff.
Schofield’s insight into the efforts of the Under 23s often showed a strong awareness of where the youth players were thriving, or fading, too.
“Really pleased with the goals,” Schofield told LUTV in April, after Bogusz struck the net against Crystal Palaces’ Under23s. “I thought Mateusz’s at the end was very calm.
“We broke quickly and played the ball into Mateusz’s path, and I thought he were very calm. He could have drove and passed the ball, but he stayed on it, fixed the player, the player decided not to come and press Mateusz, and he slotted it coolly into the bottom corner, so I’m really pleased for him.”