The Ј7million capture of Seth Johnson from Derby County in October 2001 took manager David O'Leary's spending past the Ј80million mark, but again re-affirmed Leeds' intentions to build a young vibrant predominately British squad.

Seth is a full England international and is widely renowned as one of the most promising talents in British football.

Naturally a left footed player, he can play in a number of positions in midfield as well as a left sided defender, making him a valuable asset.

Born in Birmingham, Seth started his career at Crewe under Dario Gradi where he sprung to the attention of Jim Smith who smashed the Rams' transfer record when he paid Ј3m to take him from Gresty Road in May 1999.

The 20-year-old rejected Derby's advances to move to Pride Park on transfer deadline day two months previously in a bid to help Crewe stave off relegation - a move which paid off as the club maintained its Division One status.

Smith made another move in the summer to sign the England Under-21 international – beating Liverpool in the race for his signature.

Johnson won rave reviews and his former boss Dario Gradi predicted that he would eventually develop into an international class left wing-back.

His combative style led him to become one of the most booked players in the Premiership in 2000-01, but he was regularly rewarded with England U-21 caps and he made his full England debut as a substitute in a 1-0 friendly defeat against Italy in November 2001, almost scoring with his first touch.

Former Derby boss Jim Smith revealed that Rangers made a bid for Johnson in the summer of 2001, but instead the midfielder signed a new three-year contract in July.

But when Colin Todd replaced Smith in October 2001 it became clear he would have to sell his prize asset in order to strengthen his struggling squad, and Derby agreed a Ј7million fee for the midfielder with Leeds, which could rise to Ј9million depending on appearances.

His first season at Elland Road didn't go to plan as he was hindered by a series of injury setbacks.

The 2002/03 season under ex- boss Terry Venables started in a similar vein, a knee injury once again cutting short the number of appearances he made.

He was able to provide former manager Peter Reid with more midfield options at times but was still troubled by niggling injuries and then in April, disaster struck.

Seth ruptured his cruciate ligament and suffered further knee damage that required surgery, and is not expected to play again until the new calendar year. The injury was on the opposite knee to the one that saw him miss most of the previous season but it came at a bad time as Leeds fought for Premiership survival.

He had looked to be a potential saviour at one point in the eventually thankless battle to avoid the drop, and Leeds will hope that on his return he can find his best form again to help a promotion campaign.