Cumbria has its latest Premier League player - former Carlisle United star Liam McCarron.

The 20-year-old made his top-flight debut for Leeds United in Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Arsenal.

McCarron, from Appleby, came off the bench in the second half of the game at Elland Road.

He replaced fellow sub Crysencio Summerville in the 81st minute.

It was McCarron's first senior appearance for Marcelo Bielsa's team, two-and-a-half years after he left Carlisle to join the Yorkshire club.

McCarron has impressed for Leeds' Under-23s, and his call-up came at a time Bielsa's side are suffering an injury crisis.

The former Blues prospect has been on the first-team bench a number of times this season, having also represented Leeds' Under-21s in the Papa John's Trophy.

His involvement continued a positive week for young Cumbrians in the top flight, after ex-Blues defender Jarrad Branthwaite, from Wigton, scored his first Premier League goal for Everton at Chelsea on Thursday.

Left-sided McCarron, like Branthwaite, is represented by former Carlisle captain David Reeves, and his agency congratulated McCarron on his landmark moment:

Scotland Under-21 player McCarron made 20 Carlisle appearances in the 2018/19 season, having come through United's academy and broken into the first team aged 17.

He joined Leeds in the summer of 2019 along with another Blues player, Josh Galloway.

McCarron signed a new two-year deal at Elland Road in September, having featured for the first team in pre-season.

Bielsa said that month that the former Carlisle player was getting closer to first-team involvement. He said: “He's had one year where he's had close contact with the first team, and he's shortened the distance to be able to compare himself with the other players."

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