That might well have been the case, and Ajose might have been worth the £150,000 it cost Leeds to buy him from Peterborough, but he managed just four appearances for the club before being loaned out to Crewe on 26 November 2014.

Perhaps he would have managed a bit longer at Elland Road had Hockaday not been sacked by Cellino at the end of August after six disastrous games.

Hailing from Bury, Ajose joined Manchester United's Academy and won England caps at Under-16 and Under-17 level. He signed as a professional at Old Trafford in 2009, but never made it into the first-team ranks.

Ajose had a decent spell on loan at Bury in 2010/11, scoring 13 goals in 28 appearances and moved to Peterborough United on a four-year deal for £300,000 at the end of the season.

He spent most of his time with Peterborough out on loan deals, but finally made his mark in 2013/14 with seven goals in 22 league games as the Posh made the League One play-offs. They lost out in the semi-finals against Leyton Orient.

It was a surprise when Leeds moved for Ajose in the summer as they sought to rebuild under the ownership of Massimo Cellino, but the player had no doubt that he would be a success.

'I've done well in League One and League Two, the 22-year-old said. 'So I see it as natural progression to come to the Championship. I'd like people to recognise that I can play at this level. When I first went to Peterborough it was difficult for one reason or another. But if you look at how it ended, we were in the play-offs last season and the front two was me and Assombalonga. I've come to Leeds who, in my opinion, are the biggest club in the Championship and he's gone to Forest who are the second biggest. If people say it didn't work out, I'd argue against that. When I was given the opportunity and I played, I was one of the most consistent players. And now I've ended up at Leeds United. I've come to a bigger club at a higher level.'

Ajose made his debut on the opening day at Millwall in a 2-0 defeat but did little to convince, though Phil Hay described him as a 'definite plus' for the Yorkshire Evening Post. He retained his place for the Capital One Cup game with Accrington Stanley but was again an anonymous figure for the most part. Ajose came close to a goal at home to Middlesbrough but wasted a good chance by stroking a weak shot against Daniel Ayala on the line.

He was dropped to the bench for the midweek clash against Brighton and missed out completely in the Championship defeat at Watford. He was back among the subs for the Capital One Cup defeat at Bradford but was exiled to the stiffs following Hockaday's sacking after the game.

When Neil Redfearn took the manager's chair following the sacking of Hockaday's replacement, Darko Milanic, it was quickly made clear that Ajose was not in the new man's plans. He moved to Crewe on an emergency loan deal at the end of November and remained there for the rest of the season, finishing as the Alex's top scorer with eight league goals.

New Leeds manager Uwe Rösler promised to give Ajose a new start in 2015/16, but he never got near the first-team squad and saw his Leeds contract terminated by mutual consent in September.

He signed for Swindon and then moved on to Charlton in August 2016 in an £800,000 deal but lost his way and was released at the end of the 2018/19 season. He moved on to Exeter but failed to make his mark and retired as a player in 2021 when he became Exeter's Under-18 coach.