When Marcelo Bielsa joined Leeds United, he inherited a squad that was made up of some Elland Road stalwarts. But he also had a whole heap of players brought in by Victor Orta.
Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Gaetano Berardi, and Pablo Hernandez were at Leeds, alongside a handful of additions made by Orta from all over Europe. The likes of Caleb Ekuban, Laurens De Bock, and others.
Bielsa had to get rid of them alongside Orta to reduce the size of a bloated squad. Ouasim Bouy and Vurnon Anita went to the Netherlands, Yosuke Ideguchi and Hadi Sacko left, as did Jay-Roy Grot.
A £1.5m signing from Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in 2017, Grot was handed the no.11 shirt at Leeds, and there were high hopes for him. But he struggled, even after a goal on the pre-season tour of Myanmar.
Jay-Roy Grot in action for Leeds.
Photo by Rachel Holborn – CameraSport via Getty Images
Jay-Roy Grot finally left Leeds United permanently in 2021
The lofty winger ended up playing just 22 times for Leeds, his last appearance as a substitute against Norwich in 2018. But he remained on the books at Elland Road until the summer of 2021, under Bielsa.
He never actually played for Leeds while Bielsa was in charge. In 2018-19, he went on loan to VVV-Venlo, 2019-20 saw him go to Vitesse. The 2020-21 season saw Grot basically become invisible before his exit.
Since then, Grot has played for four different clubs in four years. He went to Denmark, to Germany, and then to China. At 27, Grot is now back in Denmark, where he seems to have finally found himself a home.
Grot’s four seasons at Leeds:
Season Club Games Minutes Goals Assists Minutes per G+A
2017-18 Leeds 22 547 1 1 273.5
2018-19 VVV-Venlo (loan) 34 1902 6 3 211.3
2019-20 Vitesse (loan) 25 985 2 1 328.3
2020 (pre-Osnabruck) Leeds 0 0 0 0 0
How has Jay-Roy Grot fared since Leeds exit four years ago
Leaving Leeds permanently in January 2021, Grot joined German side Osnabrück. But he managed just four appearances for Osnabrück and six months later, Danish side Viborg took a chance on Grot.
Jay-Roy Grot in action for Kashiwa in Japan.
Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images
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It worked. Grot scored 15 goals and laid on three assists in 50 games for Viborg, with whom he has played the most games. But Grot took a chance, earning a £1.5m move to Kashiwa in January 2023.
Grot only managed 29 appearances for the Japanese side, 22 of which came in the 2023 campaign. He was left in the lurch again and eventually, in 2025, he was released and returned to Denmark with Odense.
Grot since Leeds exit:
Club Spell Games Minutes Goals Assists Minutes per G+A
Osnabruck January 21 – June 22 4 101 0 0 N/A
Viborg June 21 – January 23 50 3605 15 3 200.3
Kashiwa January 23 – January 25 29 1102 3 0 367.3
Odense March 25 – present 15 1126 5 1 187.7
Three goals in seven games in the second half of last season have been followed by two goals in eight outings this season for Odense. More chapters are to come, but Grot has found his groove in Denmark.