I nearly lost everything three years ago and now I'm playing for Leeds United
Three years ago, Isaac Schmidt feared he was tumbling out of professional football and he can scarcely believe he is answering questions as a Leeds United player this week. The then 21-year-old had endured two hellish seasons with Lausanne-Sport, savaged by injury and Covid, and was deemed surplus to requirements in his hometown.
Schmidt had taken the leap at 19-years-old from Lausanne’s under-21 side to the first team, but the transition was not easy for him. In an industry where you are left to sink or swim, the Swiss felt he was about to be washed away.
“I was in my old club (Lausanne) in Switzerland,” he told LeedsLive. “I was really quickly from the under-16 to the under-21 team. Things were going in a good way, but I had a long journey in the second team, the under-21s, with a lot of injuries, a lot of questions about whether I can play at a high level.
“I finally got to the first team and when I got there it was even more difficult. I was a youth, I didn’t play often. The first year, I had to wait one year, it was the year of the Covid.
“I had to wait one year to play my first game and to be in the squad. It was really difficult for the mind to always go and play with the under-21s, but I always kept it up, working hard. I knew my time would come.”
That first senior year with Lausanne was spent in Switzerland’s second tier, the Challenge League, but they would be promoted. His second season got no easier as they rose to the Swiss Super League.
“After that, the second year, too, was really tough,” he said. “We went to the first league. It was even more difficult because I had a lot of injuries, not really a lot of game time and at the end, they told me they don't want me anymore.”
Schmidt describes the turnaround as a miracle. It would transpire one of his earliest games for Lausanne, in the second tier, had been watched by St Gallen boss Peter Zeidler. Two days after a hungover Leeds were running rings around Derby County in July 2020, Schmidt was unknowingly saving his career away at Vaduz, a Liechtenstein outfit playing in the Swiss system.
“Three years ago, there was a moment where I was between going out of professional football completely or going to the third or fourth division,” he said. “I had a miracle that St Gallen saw me for a few games in that last year (19/20).
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“The coach saw me for one game and he told me ‘You were the best player. I don't care if you had the injury. If we work with you hard, we can make something.’ Today, I can say he did a good choice.”
Schmidt seized his opportunity. Three seasons in the Swiss top flight with St Gallen were enough to put him on United’s radar. He was made aware of their interest several months ago, but when the call finally came from Elland Road to make the move happen, Schmidt was beside himself.
“I was so happy,” he said. “A lot of people know where I come from. I had a really difficult journey in my career, even in my youth. To have a club like Leeds to come for me was a really great achievement already.
“When they came, it was clear for me I have to make everything to go there.”
Schmidt is especially touched by the fact he was spotted not only outside the big five leagues, but outside his homeland’s best-known clubs. The utility man says players plucked from Switzerland normally come from a select few outfits.
It tells him how much Leeds wanted him, to pursue him off the radar of many of the biggest clubs in England.
“It shows a lot of things,” he said. “It's not only the work of one year, but maybe the work of three years. I know I've made a lot of games in the Swiss league. I had ups and downs, but the last year was really good for me.
“I've worked for it to keep my performance high. I was surprised because most of the time clubs like that go to look to other clubs like Young Boys, Basel, maybe Lugano or Servette, but they never come to St Gallen normally.
“It was even better because even if I'm not in a club that people really look at, they saw me and that's really great. I'm always thankful to God for that.”