Mowatt: Alex James (Alex)

2013-2017 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Doncaster, Yorkshire: 13-02-1995

Debut: Doncaster Rovers: 27-08-2013

5ft 10ins 11st 3lb (2015)

Doncaster-born Mowatt joined the Leeds United Youth Development Centre in his hometown at the age of five and continued playing with a local Junior club, Bentley Pumas, until the age of nine when he signed for the Leeds United Academy in the 2003-04 season. He progressed through the Leeds Junior teams and was captain of the successful Under-eighteen under Richard Naylor and Neil Redfearn, in a team that won the League with ease. Having signed a two-year professional contract in March 2013, he started to play for the Leeds Under-Twenty-one squad and had an outstanding game against Liverpool in the F.A. Youth Cup and came to the attention of Brian McDermott with an outstanding performance in a Friendly with Shelbourne on 29th July 2013. After sitting unused on the bench in the first round of the League Cup 2-1 home win over Chesterfield on 7th August, he was handed his League debut at the Keepmoat Stadium in his hometown in the second round on 27th August, and was an outstanding success before being replaced by Luke Murphy in the seventy-fourth minute. After being unused on the bench for three of the next four games, he was again called up for the third round of the League Cup encounter at Newcastle United and that was the start of his becoming a regular in the first team and made his League debut at Millwall on 28th September 2013, and went on to play twelve of the next thirteen League games before being rested for the two Christmas games at Blackpool and Nottingham Forest. On 5th December 2013 he was given a new three-and-a-half year contract and while still a regular he was not an everpresent as niggling injuries took their toll. He did, however, manage to score his first goal for the club in the eighty-second minute of a 5-1 home win over neighbours Huddersfield Town and it came as little surprise that he was elected "Young player of the season" and also was third in the Fans "player of the year" award. In October, after watching Mowatt in the 4-0 home win over Birmingham City on 20th October 2013, Gareth Southgate, the England Under-Twenty-one boss, called him into the England Under-Nineteen squad for the trip to Hungary with Noel Blake's team. He made his England Under-Nineteen debut in a 3-0 win over Turkey at the Deva Stadium on 5th March 2014, wehen he came on as a sixty-seventh minute replacement for Sam Gallagher. He was injured in United's penultimate game of the 2013-14 season at Birmingham on 26th April 2014 and missed the ensuing pre-season as he struggled to regain fitness. It was not until 30th August 2014 that he was considered fit for the first team and caretaker boss Neil Redfearn put him straight into the starting team team which defeated Bolton Wanderers at home 1-0. In the next game, in the 1-1 draw at Birmingham City on 13th September, it was Mowatt's seventy-sixth minute equaliser that got Leeds a point at Birmingham City, but in so doing he picked up an injury to his toe which saw him miss the next two games, but new manager Branco Milanic put him straight into his team in the 0-2 defeat at Brentford and there he remained until the unfortunate Milanic departed after the 1-2 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers on 25th October 2014. However, with Neil Redfearn in charge he remained a first-team regular. His form was such that he was watched by the Scottish selectors in the 0-2 away loss at Brighton and Hove Albion on 24th February 2015, as he has Scottish qualifications as his father was born in Scotland. But he was also called up to the England Under-twenty squad for the game with Mexico on 25th March 2015, but was an unused substitute. However four days later he gained his first cap at that level when he started in the 2-1 win over USA at Home Park, Plymouth, and played seventy-nine minutes before giving way to Chuba Akpom of Arsenal. Despite being primarily a midfielder he began to find the net on a regular basis ans cored nine goals in his thirty-seven starts and one game from the bench in the League in the 2014-15 season. His first goal of the season came in the seventy-sixth minute of the game on 13th September 2014 and secured a 1-1 draw for Leeds at Birmingham City. This was followed by one at Cardiff City, which was no more than a consolation in a 1-3 away defeat, but three days later, on 4th November 2014 he scored in the forty-ninth and sixty-seventh minute to twice give United the lead, but in the end had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home to Charlton Athletic. He did not score again until his goal in the thirty-ninth minute, gave United the points at home to Millwall on 14th February 2015 and a week later he repeated the feat, scoring in the third minute of the win at Middlesbrough. He then opened the scoring in the seventy-first minute as United beat Ipswich Town 2-1 at Elland Road on 4th March 2015, before once more scoring the only goal of the game, in the fifty-first minute, to get full points at Wigan Athletic three days later. His final goal of the season saw United draw level at 3-3 in the seventy-fourth minute of the game at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but the home side prevailed 4-3. There was little doubt that Mowatt was consistently the best player for United and this was reflected in the annual team awards for the season as after being Leeds United Young Player of the Year in 2013–14, and being chosen as the Football League Young Player Of The Month in November 2014, he was elected Yorkshire Evening Post Player of The Year, Leeds United Players' Player of the Year and Leeds United Player of the Year for the 2014-15 season. This led to transfer speculation, with Hull City reportedly offering £7million in April 2015 but Neil Redfearn asked the club to hold on to their bright young stars. Apart from a few injuries and a three match suspension for being red-carded in the 2-1 win at Birmingham City on 12th April 2016, Mowatt was again a regular in the first team, starting twenty-three and coming off the bench in thirteen more of the fifty fixture played in the season. He scored twice in the season, in consecutive matches, the 1-0 win at home to Cardiff City on 3rd November 2015 and the 3-0 win at Huddersfield Town on 7th November 2015. He did not add to his international caps, but Gordon Strachan enquired after his availability for Scotland in December 2015. When the shirts were reallocated on 5th August 2016 for the 2016-17 season, he lost the #10 shirt and had to be content with #27 and had to be content with just four League starts and eleven games from the bench, as Pablo Hernandez became the first choice in central midfield, and had to be content with featuring with understrength squads in the F.A. Cup and League Cup. It was not until 9th January 2017 that he found the net in the 2-1 away win over Cambridge United. It was to be his only goal of the season, but he did also feature in two starts and two games from the bench in the League Cup. However, on 27th January 2017 Barnsley made an offer for him, which was accepted by Leeds and he moved to Oakwell on a two and a half year contract at a fee thought to be in the £600, 000 region. His Oakwell debut was not a happy one as he was sent off three minutes before half-time as the Terriers went down 1-3 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 31st January 2017. This was followed by the usual red-card suspension and he came back as an eightieth minute substitute for George Moncur in the 0-2 home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion. He failed to win a first-team spot for himself and he finished the season with six starts and five games from the bench in the League with one goal, which opened the scoring in the thirty-seventh minute in a 2-3 defeat defeat at Bristol City on 22nd April 2017, his only shot that found the net. He was in the Barnsley team that started the 2017-18 season with a 1-3 defeat at Ashton Gate by Bristol City on 5th August 2017, but only had one minute of playing time in the League Cup three days later as the progressed to the next round with a 4-3 win at Oakwell over Morecambe. On 31st August 2017, at the very end of the Summer Transfer window, he wnt on a season long loan with Oxford United.