Burnley FC pulled off a beauty with Leeds United deal that was executed flawlessly: View | OneFootball

Burnley signed Chris Wood from Leeds United in 2017 and it proved a good move for more than one reason

Since he arrived from New Zealand as a youngster in 2009, Chris Wood has become a household name in English football, enjoying great success in both the Premier League and the Championship.

Wood has played for a whole host of clubs, but two of his most fruitful spells came at both Leeds United and Burnley, with the latter offering him the chance to play regular Premier League football for the first time.

The New Zealand international never looked back after being given the chance to play in the top-flight, and while his time at Burnley came to something of a sour end, their decision to sign him from Leeds back in 2017 paid dividends, for more reasons than one.

Wood's time at Turf Moor coincided with some great years for Burnley, with the club securing their status as a stable Premier League club, even qualifying for Europe after their 7th place finish in 2018, and he'll certainly be fondly remembered by the club's supporters.

Burnley pulled off a beauty with 2017 Chris Wood deal

Wood has been in fine form for Leeds United since joining the Whites in 2015, and over the course of his two seasons at Elland Road he had scored an impressive 41 goals in 83 appearances, nearly one every other game.

Given this form and Leeds' failure to win promotion to the top-flight, Burnley brought Wood to Turf Moor in August 2017, forking out a club record fee of £15million, and while that seemed a hefty fee given his lack of Premier League experience, it proved to be worth every penny.

Despite missing a chunk of his first season at the Clarets with a knee injury, Wood scored 10 goals in 24 Premier League appearances, a very respectable return which helped his side finish in the European places, a dream start to life for him at Burnley.

The following season saw the striker play every single league game for Burnley, scoring 13 goals in all competitions and breaking into double figures yet again in the Premier League, with his £15million price tag proving excellent business.

The 2019/20 season saw Wood enjoy his best season in a Clarets shirt, scoring 14 league goals as his side finished 10th in the Premier League. This included an impressive end to the season where he scored three goals in three games, finishing as the club's top goalscorer for the second time in three seasons.

It was becoming apparent that Wood was a reliable goalscorer at Premier League level, a status not too many players could claim to have, and in his final full season at Turf Moor he bagged another 12 league goals, finishing as the club's top goalscorer and winning the Player of the Year award.

However, in January 2022, he made the controversial decision to end his four-and-a-half year stay at Turf Moor and joined direct relegation rivals Newcastle United in a deal worth £25m, a huge blow to Burnley and one that ultimately saw them relegated at the end of the season.

Wood's departure leading to relegation shows just how influential he was, and while joining Newcastle would have stung supporters, there's no disputing what he did for the club.

His 53 goals helped turn Burnley into a competitive Premier League side, and he made them a £10million profit when he departed, vindicating their decision to spend £15million to sign him from Leeds United in the summer of 2017.

Chris Wood is still a real force at Premier League level

Now 32, Wood is still thriving in the Premier League, despite his time at Newcastle United perhaps not going to plan.

In total, he spent just one season at St James' Park before being loaned to Nottingham Forest in January 2023, a year after joining the Magpies, and he put pen-to-paper to sign for Forest on a permanent basis in the summer of 2023.

He scored just five goals in 39 appearances for Newcastle, failing to replicate the form he'd shown at Burnley, but his move to Forest has given his career a new lease of life.

Wood matched his best ever Premier League tally during the 2023/24 campaign, scoring 14 goals, which included a hat-trick away to Newcastle, and a brace against Burnley on the final day of the season which rubbed salt into the wounds after their relegation.

Despite being in his thirties, Wood doesn't seem to be slowing down, and he's started the new campaign very well, scoring four goals in seven Premier League games, putting him joint fourth in the division's scoring charts.

Wood has proved an excellent addition to English football, and Burnley deserve huge credit for giving him his first real chance in the Premier League.