After a short loan spell at Darlington in 2004 where he scored twice in nine appearances, Graham spent most of his early Middlesbrough career out on loan in search of minutes. He won an England Under-20 cap, starting a 2-0 victory against Russia on 4 February 2005.

Nine months later, Graham joined Derby County on loan, scoring three goals in 14 appearances, though struggling to impose himself consistently in the Championship.

In March 2006, Leeds United — under manager Kevin Blackwell - signed the young striker on loan, hoping to boost their attack following injury to Richard Cresswell. The deal offered Graham a platform to stake a claim at a club fighting for promotion to the Premier League.

'Danny Graham was brought in because size-wise I haven't got anybody who can match Cresswell and Hulse,' said Blackwell. 'We've already lost Cresswell and if I was to lose Hulse then I would have no physical presence if I wanted to use it as a focal point of the attack — that's purely the reason why I have brought Danny in. If Cresswell had been fit I would not be signing anybody.

'It would be remiss of me to go into the final stage of the season and not have cover because you have to expect everything to go wrong. Ideally, I want to be off on my holidays on the 30th April but I still have to plan to be here for the middle of May.'

'Middlesbrough coach Steve Harrison gave me a call yesterday afternoon to say Leeds were interested and I jumped at the chance,' said Graham. 'I was at Derby less than an month ago playing in a tough game with Leeds that we drew 0-0 but I'm here now and want to do my best for Leeds.

'Leeds fans know all about Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka who were here before, and then of course Yakubu is having a good season, so you can understand how hard it is for me to break into the team at Middlesbrough. It has been frustrating this season, but I had a fractured leg in the summer so I have really just been trying to get fit so it knocked me down the pecking order and I took the Derby loan. I did well for them and hopefully I can do the same for Leeds.

'Going to Derby was good because I played week in and week out and that's what I hope to do at Leeds now. 'At Derby it was about trying to scrape points together and get wins where we can but Leeds are on a good run and going for promotion, so it will be a good test but I am up for it. Robbie Blake, David Healy, Rob Hulse and Richard Cresswell are all quality strikers but hopefully I can get a chance and get some goals here.'

Graham made his Leeds debut on 24 March 2006 and logged a total of one league start and two substitute appearances, without troubling the scorers. Leeds finished fifth in the Championship and reached the play-off final where they lost 3-0 to Watford.

A large number of Leeds loan signings during this period ended up forgotten by fans, and Graham often appears on lists of forgettable loanees — a player of eventual acclaim who showed little spark during his Elland Road stint. The criticism wasn't of ability, but of output and timing: arriving late into a promotion push, used sparingly, unable to adjust quickly, and thus yielding minimal impact.

After returning to Middlesbrough in summer 2006, Graham spent a month on loan at Blackpool, where he scored once in four league appearances. He then joined Carlisle United on loan in late 2006. There, he found form, scoring an impressive 7 goals in 11 league appearances.

Despite those flashes, Middlesbrough released him in May 2007. He then signed a two-year contract with Carlisle United, where he continued to flourish. Graham's breakthrough came with Watford (joined 2009), then Swansea City, where he became top scorer in the Premier League after their promotion. A big-money move to Sunderland followed in January 2013, where he enjoyed a productive period before stints at Hull City, Middlesbrough (again), Wolves, Blackburn Rovers, and back to Sunderland over the following years. Across those clubs he accumulated over 600 senior appearances and more than 170 goals.