Leif Davis

In the 2023–24 Championship season Leif Davis set up 18 goals, the most by a defender in a single season in the division. It was a record, and it came in the year Ipswich Town finished as runners-up and went up to the Premier League. Davis was named the club's Players' Player of the Year and was picked for the PFA Team of the Year and the EFL Team of the Season. The Athletic also placed him in its Championship Team of the Season.

He joined Ipswich from Leeds United in July 2022 for a reported £1 million, and the first year brought a promotion of its own: second place in League One. He was chosen for the PFA and EFL teams of the year that season as well.

The route there was not direct. Davis started out as a scholar at Morecambe, where he trained with the first team without making an appearance. Leeds signed him in July 2018 for a reported fee of around £50,000. He was in the squad that won the Championship in 2019–20, with three league appearances from the bench and two starts in the EFL Cup, and made his first-team debut the following season.

Regular football came on loan at AFC Bournemouth in 2021–22. He played 12 Championship games as the club finished second and went up, and he was named its Player of the Month for January 2022. He returned to Leeds that May, and Ipswich followed two months later.

The step up to the Premier League brought a goal against Leicester City in November 2024, which was nominated for that month's Goal of the Month award. A month earlier he had signed a five-year contract extension that runs until the summer of 2028.