Charlie Cresswell;Leeds United former player signs new contract and announces his return back to club

There is, perhaps, one thing former Leeds United defender Charlie Cresswell would change about his new life in France with Toulouse.

As a proud northerner – a Preston-born powerhouse who spent 11 years in West Yorkshire before Toulouse secured the Leeds graduate’s services for around £4 million – France may be the culinary capital of Europe.

But what it offers in terms of freshness and flavour, it loses in the absence of Bisto.

Charlie Cresswell, speaking to the English media nearly a year into his spell in Ligue 1, cannot help but bemoan the lack of readily-available Yorkshire puddings. That certainly wasn’t an issue at Leeds United.

And one suspects, when the England Under-21 international was on the brink of the first-team at Elland Road, he did not expect to be importing gravy granules from over the Channel tunnel.

“I had to order gravy from Amazon,” he laughs.

Onto more serious matters, Cresswell cannot be more positive about how things have panned out for him in France. From making only one Championship start under Daniel Farke to closing in on 30 in a major European league.

Charlie Cresswell held his own against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and PSG recently. Cresswell scored three goals in eight Ligue 1 matches recently, too.

Charlie Cresswell says leaving Leeds United for Toulouse was the right call

Only Paris Saint-Germain and Lille have conceded fewer goals than Toulouse’s 29.

And, with a top-half finish for the first time since 2013/14 beckoning, the former Millwall loanee has clearly been a colossal influence at both ends of the pitch.

“I have loved every minute of it so far. It has been a challenge but one I feel like I am embracing,” Cresswell smiles. “I bet [my leaving Leeds for Toulouse] seemed like a bit of a surprise but, last season, I didn’t play much. I had a lot of thinking time.