Gaetano Berardi has penned an emotional open letter to Leeds United supporters on the day his Elland Road exit was announced.
The fans’ favourite first arrived in West Yorkshire nearly seven years as one of the first signings of the Dave Hockaday era with the Whites.
Since then, the Swiss defender has played under Darko Milanic, Neil Redfearn, Uwe Rosler, Steven Evans, Garry Monk, Thomas Christiansen, Paul Heckingbottom and Marcelo Bielsa.
“I came here like an empty bag, without big expectations, just with a big dream,” he wrote on The Square Ball.
“That dream grew year by year and it became an obsession; a crazy and dangerous obsession, but you are never alone in football.
“You share feelings and desires with the people around you and with your teammates and thanks to this I could overcome many difficulties.
“I could find the motivation to go ahead and the strength to keep on fighting.
“Eventually, that dream came true and it was amazing being a champion with all of you.
“This is the end of a beautiful journey where I met really good and nice people, where I made new friends and where I experienced the birth of my son, making me and my wife the happiest people in the world.
“How can I forget all this? That bag is not empty anymore, it is full and heavy.”
The 32-year-old has made 156 appearances up to now, including 133 starts since the summer of 2014.
Berardi is yet to score in the league for Leeds. His only two strikes came in cup competitions, one at Newport County in the ill-fated FA Cup visit of January 2018 and another at Salford City in the EFL Cup last season.
Read Berardi’s open letter in full here.
