Back up goalkeeper Alex Cairns has been impressed with how quickly Leeds United's new players have settled into life at Elland Road.
Lukas Nmecha, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bournauw, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff, Anton Stach and Lucas Perri have joined Daniel Farke's Whites revolution as they look to establish themselves in the Premier League. The bulk of the new recruits have come from overseas and have little experience of English football.
But Cairns feels United's recruitment team have brought in the right characters to give them a fighting chance of competing at the highest level. He told Leeds Live: "You've always got a core group of players that pass the baton a little bit to the new ones. Not necessarily the leaders, but the ones that are a little bit more vocal about how things work around the football club because, as I say, it's especially difficult for foreign lads coming in. They need to buy into the culture, which I can honestly say every single one of them has.
"(We have had) Loads of conversations at the dinner tables and even on the bus. Everyone is speaking; there are no cliques in the group and everyone gets on. I knew that last year when I came in; I already knew that that's what the group was like. And that's credit to the club for bringing them types of players in because they're not just bringing in top quality players, they're bringing in great personalities as well. That helps so much more when you know you're trying to get together and trying to build something special."
Third-choice shot-stopper Cairns could be given a run-out in United's friendly at home to Villarreal today. Daniel Farke's side then conclude their pre-season programme with a clash against Italian giants AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, August 9.
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