Leeds United are on the verge of appointing Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom as the club's new head coach to replace Thomas Christiansen who was sacked on Sunday.

The 40-year-old, from the South Yorkshire coalfield village of Royston, played for and managed his boyhood club, steering them to promotion from League One in 2016 having taken over in February with the club in 18th place. He also won the Football League Trophy with a 3-2 victory over Oxford United during that spell as caretaker manager before signing a one-year rolling contract in the summer.

Heckingbottom took Barnsley up to eighth in the Championship but had to sell Conor Hourihane, Sam Winnall and James Bree during the January window, having already parted with Alfie Mawson at the end of August which contributed significantly to Barnsley's slide down to 14th.

At the start of this season Heckingbottom was also forced to sell his captain, Marc Roberts, to Birmingham City but his reputation has not been damaged by Barnsley's flirtation with relegation this season. He was strongly linked to vacancies at Sunderland and Nottingham Forest because of admiration for his work in trying financial circumstances.

The former Sunderland trainee signed a new contract with Barnsley only last Friday but it is understood that a release clause of about £500,000 was included and that Leeds triggered it on Monday afternoon less than 24 hours after Christiansen's departure.