Erwin: Lee
2015-Current
(Leeds Player Details)
(Player Details)
Striker
Born: Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland: 19-03-1994
Debut: v Rotherham United (h) (substitute) : 21-11-2015
6' 2' 12st 7lb (2015)
Locally born, Erwin progressed through the ranks of the Motherwell youth system, excelling in
each age group and being involved with the club's Under-Nineteen team from the age of sixteen.
His promise was soon noticed by the Scottish selectors and he was capped at Under-Seventeen and
Eighteen level. He made his Under-Seventeen debut on 17th September 2010 as a fifty-ninth minute
substitute for Lewis MacLeod in a 1-0 win over Macedonia in the UEFA European Championship at the
Henri Dunant Stadium, Beggen, in Luxembourg and two days later at the same venue he made his
starting debut in a 2-1 win over the host nation, but being substituted by Lewis MacLeod in the
fortieth minute. His third cap came in a 2-1 win over USA in a friendly at the Blackburn Rovers
Academy on 10th November 2010, in which he came on as a substitute for Daniel Handling after
forty-five minutes. His fourth cap also came in a friendly on 10th January 2011, and he scored
after just three minutes to open the scoring in a 2-0 win over Malta at Ta'Qali Training Grounds
when he was replaced by Daniel Handling after forty minutes. His fifth and final cap came in
another UEFA European Championship game on 14th May 2011 in a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic at
Capozza Stadium, Casarano, Italy in which he came on as a seventy-sixth minute substitute for
Matthew Kennedy. He was capped twice at Under-Eighteen level both against Serbia, his debut coming
when he started in a 1-1 draw at the Stadium FK Zemum, Serbia on 17th April 2012 and he was
replaced after sixty minutes by Declan McManus. The second came two days later in a 4-1 win at the
Sports Centre FSS Stara Pazova, Serbia when he came on as a sixtieth minute substitute for Declan
McManus. He then progressed to the Under-Nineteens, where he quickly gained three caps. His debut
came on 14th August 2012 when he started in a 0-1 defeat by Germany at the Falkirk Stadium and was
replaced by Declan McManus in the fifty-second minute. His second cap came eleven days later at the
Pya Stadium, Otta in a 2-3 defeat by Norway, when he came on as a substitute for Samuel Gallagher
in the forty-fifth minute and his third and final cap came in a 1-2 defeat by Netherlands on 10th
September 2012 at the Falkirk Stadium where he came on as a seventy-third minute substitute for
Samuel Gallagher. He might well have been pushing for top team action sooner had injury not blighted
him for almost two seasons. A knee injury the striker suffered in the warm up against at Dens Park
for the Under-Twenties in September 2012 kept him on the sidelines for almost five months. When he
did return the Motherwell Under-Twenties side play some of their most productive football of the
campaign. It was expexted that Erwin would play a big part in the Motherwell 2013-14 campaign. He
featured in pre-season matches against the likes of Doncaster Rovers and Newcastle United. But as
Stuart McCall gradually added to his pool Erwin was allowed to join Arbroath on the last day of the
Summer Transfer Window so he could get regular first team football. The striker made an incredible
start, scoring two first half goals in a 2-1 home victory over Brechin at Gayfield and went on to
net no fewer than eight goals in eleven games for the Red Lichties, including a last minute winner
against Airdrie, the side his father once served. He had only just returned to Fir Park, when in his
first week back, he was sadly injured in an Under-Twenties Cup tie at Kilmarnock, which saw him miss
all but the final few games of the season. Fit and ready for action once more Erwin made his
Motherwell debut in the Europa League tie at home to Stjarnan and netted his first Motherwell goal
in the sixty-fourth minute of the first league game of the season as MotherWell beat St Mirren 1-0
on 9th August 2014. He went on to score six goals in twenty starts and fourteen games as a substitute
in the league, and make one Scottish Cup and one Europa League appearance from the bench, without
scoring and scored once in two starts in the play-offs during the 2014-15 season. He joined Leeds
United on a free transfer and signed a three year contract on 10th June 2015. Although he had plenty
of game time in the pre-season friendlies and sat on the bench in the Burnley, Doncaster Rovers,
Reading, Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday games he was not called into first team action and on
9th October 2015 he was loaned to League One side, Bury, for a month. He made his debut the
following day in a 2-2 draw with Wigan Athletic at Gigg Lane, being replaced in the fifty-third minute
by Tom Pope. Although he twice came on as a subsitute, for Tom Pope, in the seventy-fourth minute of
a 0-0 draw at home to Rochdale on 17th October 2016, and for Danny Mayor, in the sixty-fifth minute
of a 4-3 home win over Blackpool on 31st October, it was to be his only start and he returned to Elland
Road goalless and not much more experienced. The new Leeds Coach, Steve Evans, said he wanted to
give Erwin more opportunities with the first team and, after sitting unused on the bench in the 3-0 win
at Huddersfield Town on 7th November 2016, he made his debut as a eighty-fifth minute substitute for
Lewis Cook on the 21st November 2016 in a 0-1 home defeat by Rotherham United. He was again on
the bench in the following match in a 0-1 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on 28th November 2016 and
this time he had ten minutes on the park after replacing Mirco Antenucci. He then sat unused on the
bench at home to Hull City on 5th December 2015 before being left out of the squad once more until
he came on as a substitute for Souleymane Doukara in the sixty-eighth minute of a 1-1 draw at home
to Milton Keynes Dons on 2nd January 2016. He was next an unused substitute on 16th January 2016
in a 0-2 defeat by Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough and then two weeks later in the F.A. Cup at
Bolton Wanderers. He then came on as a substitute in five of the next six games, with nine minutes
on 6th February 2016 as a replacement for Toumani Diagouraga in the 0-1 loss at home to Nottingham
Forest, eleven minutes for Mirco Antenucci in the 0-0 home draw with Middlesbrough on 15th February
2016, another seven minutes in the F.A. Cup at Watford and a further twenty-one minutes more for the
Italian in the 1-1 home draw with Fulham on 23rd February 2016, then twice as a replacement for
Souleymane Doukara, with fifteen minutes in the 0-4 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion on 29th
February 2016 and four minutes in the 2-0 win at Cardiff City on 8th March 2016. With Souleymane
Doukara out for eight games due to suspension it gave Erwin the opportunity to come on for Mirco
Antenucci for ten minutes at home to Reading in a 3-2 win on 16th April 2016, before finally getting two
starts. He made his debut in the 2-1 home win over Wolverhampton on 19th April 2016, playing seventy-
five minutes before giving way to Jordan Botaka and then playing the first half of the 2-2 draw at Hull City,
before being replaced by the same person. On 9th July 2016 it was announced that the young Scot would
be loaned to Oldham Athletic and would spend the whole of the 2016-17 season at Boundary Park.