The 19-year-old midfielder has snubbed serious interest from Liverpool, Southampton and West Ham to join Leeds this summer.

 

The teenager had an offer of signing a new contract with Chelsea but saw no pathway to the first team at Stamford Bridge and opted to move to Elland Road.

 

 

Leeds paid around £1.2m for Bate and Chelsea also reserved a sell-on clause in excess of 20 per cent, which could bag them more money from the deal in the future.

 

Bate is delighted to join Leeds and stressed that he is eager to get started and hit the ground running at his new club as soon as possible.

 

 

The youngster took to Twitter and wrote: “Delighted to have joined this club.

 

“Can’t wait to get started.”

 

 

The midfielder will initially link up with the Under-23 side and will feature in Premier League 2 next season.

 

Leeds have not guaranteed first-team football but Bate saw a plausible path to Marcelo Bielsa’s side before agreeing to join.