Walters: Lewis

2012-2016 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Striker/Winger

Born: Harrogate, Yorkshire: 28-03-1995

Debut: : N/A:

5' 8' 10st 10lb (2015)

Born and raised in Harrogate, Walters was discovered playing with Pannal Ash in the Harrogate Sunday League and joined the Leeds Academy in the 2011-12 season. He started five games and came off the bench in another seven as he scored four goals for the Leeds Under-Eighteen team. In the following season of 2012-13 he scored fourteen goals in fifteen starts and two games as a substitute for the same team and impressed so much that he signed his first professional contract in March 2013 for one year, and was given a chance in the Under-Twenty-One side where he scored five goals in eight starts and six from the bench. He earned rave reviews for his displays in both the Under-Eighteen and Under- Twenty-One sides and, after cementing his spot in the latter side with six goals in thirteen starts and three substitute appearances, he was twice called up to the first team squad and sat unused, on 25th March 2014 in a 1-4 defeat at Bournemouth, and then in the final game of the season in a 1-1 draw with Derby County at Elland Road on 3rd May 2014. The summer of 2014 saw him travel with the first-team squad for the pre-season training camp in Italy. Walters impressed, scoring in the 16-0 win over FC Gherdeina, but an injury picked up on 27th July 2014, in the 0-2 defeat at Mansfield Town upon return to England, ruled him out for the start of the campaign. The talented teenager was so tantalisingly close to making his Leeds United first-team debut, but it took him six months to recover from the injury on the back of a rehabilitation programme. As the League programme got underway Walters had one leg in a cast and could remember the incident leading to his injury as wholly innocuous. He was twenty-five minutes into the 2-0 defeat at Mansfield Town when he tweaked his knee and called for treatment. In the absence of any severe pain he played on for a few minutes before collapsing in Mansfield’s box after jumping to head a corner kick. The damage to cartilage required surgery and Walters hardly kicked a ball in six months. His first outing on 17th February 2015, in the 0-0 draw in the Under Twenty-One Development-squad game at home to Sheffield Wednesday, was his first Ninety-minute appearance for longer than he cared to remember. So his quest for a first team spot recommenced and gave Walters renewed optimism. He knew Neil Redfearn had confidence in his ability and that he had already twice been included in the first team squad. “I think I’d definitely have had my opportunity already if I’d stayed fit,” Walters said. “I was doing really well in the summer and when I started against Mansfield I thought ‘I’ve got a really good chance here.’ It’s strange because at first I didn’t think anything of the injury. I was running, I twisted and my knee clicked twice. I thought ‘that’s not right’ but it stopped hurting so I carried on. I went up for a header and as soon as I landed, the knee gave way. It stuck. I couldn’t move it. To begin with I didn’t think it was going to be so bad. I thought it was a little bit of cartilage, no more than that. Then we got the final analysis and I was gutted. I couldn’t believe it.” Redfearn played him on the left wing in the game against Wednesday and Walters commented “As long as I’m on the pitch, I’d play anywhere – up front hopefully – and it would be a dream to play at Elland Road in front of 25,000. I can’t picture that at the minute because the opportunity hasn’t come.” But he used his former teammates climb to first team prominance as an inspiration Sam Byram, Alex Mowatt, Lewis Cook and Charlie Taylor are all regulars and Walters must have felt like the train was leaving him behind. Even so, he was anything but bitter. “It doesn’t make it frustrating because I like to see my friends doing well,” he said. “I’m really pleased for them and for what they’ve done. I hope when I get my chance I do exactly the same. (Redfearn) has told me to keep going, keep doing what I’m doing and my chance should come. He knows me better than anyone at the club because he’s been my coach all the way up. I think that’s why I think he’s making me feel better and giving me self-belief. He’s been a massive influence and he’s got the other young lads to where they are now. He’s pushing them on and look how well they’re doing. It’s an incentive for all of us.” On 28th February 2015 he was called up into the first team squad but sat unused on the bench in the 2-3 home defeat to Watford. At the end of the season, after scoring three goals in ten starts for the Under-Twenty- One squad his contract was extended by one year. With new players coming in for the 2015-16 season he slipped further down the pecking order and did not make the bench for the first team and scored twice in ten starts and eight games as a substitute for the Under-Twenty-one squad. The departure of Neil Redfearn saw the end of Walters' connection to the first team as succeeding Managers preferred other strikers to fit into their tactical plans. It came as no surprise when he was released when his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2015-16 season. On 19th July Walters was given a trial by Sheffiel United and was an unused substitute in their friendly with Halifax Town FC.