Leeds United’s recruitment – and the players Farke fought to keep – is paying off – The Athletic 11/10/23
By Phil Hay
So many footballers have that annoying knack of being
naturally good at more than just football. Some of Paul Gascoigne’s old school
teachers remember him picking up a tennis racquet and looking like he had been
on the courts for years, as proficient as any of his contemporaries despite
having never handled one before.
It was not quite excellence to that extreme on Saturday as
Archie Gray gave right-back a whirl in Leeds United’s win over Bristol City,
but Gray’s command of an unfamiliar position explained the hype around him. The
17-year-old is one of those players for whom no one is setting limits. He is
off for England Under-19 duty this week, having missed his last call-up because
of concern at Leeds about the physical demands on him. There is only so much
holding-back the club can do.
“I’d love to put him in cotton wool,” said United’s manager,
Daniel Farke, “but we have to respect that there are bigger ambitions. We can’t
hide him away each and every time. We’d prefer that he is called up for the
proper Three Lions, but that’s a bit too soon.” Though somewhere down the line,
it is not unlikely on the evidence of Gray’s talent so far.
Gray at right-back was not a wild experiment because he has played there at youth level, domestically and internationally. Farke’s rationale was that he thought Gray’s pace and technical ability would make him better suited to Saturday’s game than Luke Ayling, giving him the upper hand in a head-to-head with the tricky Sam Bell. But the strength of Gray’s performance with limited time to prepare told another story: about the way in which Leeds mapped out their recruitment in the summer and, without covering every single base entirely, did a good job of getting it right.
Against Bristol City, Farke was able to play Gray as a
full-back without compromising his team on the right side of the defence. He
was able to use Gray in that way without compromising the centre of his
midfield either because Leeds finally have an adequate headcount in that part
of the pitch. He was able to fill the right-back slot without dragging a very competent
left-back, Sam Byram, away from his usual role and weakening the team down the
left as a result. Gray moving out of midfield and Glen Kamara stepping in to
good effect is the dream ticket for a coach: options which interchange without
bringing the house of cards down.
It will not always be as smooth as that and Farke found at
Southampton, where Leeds were picked apart too easily, that his squad are some
way short of being bulletproof, but Southampton, after 11 games, is the sore
thumb in a streak of matches which have made United look suitably sure of
themselves. It is one defeat in nine for Farke, a run yielding 18 points and
five clean sheets. There is a good trend developing of Leeds squeezing results
from games which require some patience and persistence, a team who look happy
with the system they are using.
Farke, from the day of his appointment in July, was allowed
to stamp his own mark on the squad, a manager with the authority to call the
shots. Part of the proof of that is that three of the players Leeds talked
about selling in the summer window — Pascal Struijk, Illan Meslier and
Crysencio Summerville — are among those who have played the most minutes under
him. Club Bruges were keen on Struijk, Burnley made a last-minute offer for
Summerville and Meslier was the subject of a few enquiries, including one from
Celta Vigo, but the arrival of Farke altered their plans.
Farke wanted Leeds to keep all three players and made sure they did. Very quickly, they were moved off the list of prospective exits. Farke has been so committed to Meslier that the other goalkeeper he signed, Karl Darlow, has not played a minute in the Championship yet.
There was also a willingness on United’s part to let Farke
return to old favourites. He went back to Norwich City for defender Max Aarons,
albeit with frustrating results, and took Sam Byram on a free transfer after
his release from Carrow Road despite reservations at Elland Road about Byram’s
injury record. He would have signed midfielder Kenny McLean, too, had Norwich
not refused to entertain a sale. So many of the bigger clubs in England operate
like this: recruitment is managed by dedicated staff but final decisions rest
on the manager’s say-so. Struijk, Summerville and Meslier stayed on because
Farke was not willing to see them sold.
Nonetheless, it took plenty of pairs of hands and plenty of
voices to make the window work. Gretar Steinsson, Leeds’ technical director,
was the key influence in persuading Swansea City to sell Joel Piroe for
£10.5million ($12.9m). Calls made direct to Swansea’s ownership, rather than to
their recruitment department, set the wheels in motion. Angus Kinnear, Leeds’
CEO, was able to use a good relationship with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to
make loans for Joe Rodon and Djed Spence happen — Rodon’s from a starting point
of Spurs asking for a permanent bid in the region of £15m.
Nick Hammond, United’s interim transfer consultant, worked
through the summer on a short-term contract, along with a colleague of his, the
ex-QPR player Gary Penrice. Penrice, formerly Celtic’s head of recruitment,
came on board to help with the tangled process of players moving in and out of
Elland Road. Hammond’s consultancy period ended with the closure of the
transfer window, but the ownership at Leeds valued his work and his role in the
recruitment of Farke as manager. Recent discussions have taken place about
renewing Hammond’s contract, a deal which would ensure he and Penrice are on
the scene for the next two transfer windows.
As it stands, Leeds’ requirements in January are unlikely to
be vast. The overhaul of their squad after relegation from the Premier League
moved Farke to the point of having two credible options for each position, give
or take a couple of exceptions.
Junior Firpo has not played this season and there remains
the question of how Leeds would cope at left-back if Byram’s body was to let
him down. Their aborted bid for Bayer Leverkusen’s Nadiem Amiri in August was a
hint that Farke would like more depth at No 10, but Firpo is due back after the
international break and neither Djed Spence nor Willy Gnonto are a mile away
from recovering from injury. The days when Farke was naming two keepers on the
bench feel a long way behind him already.