Daniel Farke on trio's dressing room removal and legal question marks on star - YEP 16/8/23

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke says Luis Sinisterra’s situation cannot be compared to that of Willy Gnonto due to contractual and legal factors.

By Graham Smyth

Sinisterra was another who had a release clause in his deal, permitting a loan move akin to those made by Robin Koch, Marc Roca, Rasmus Kristensen, Brenden Aaronson, Jack Harrison, Max Wober and Diego Llorente.

Sinisterra was ‘not available’ for last weekend’s game against Birmingham City according to Farke, although Leeds did not release a statement on the situation as they had last Friday regarding Gnonto’s self-proclaimed unavailability for the game.

Farke was asked about the situation regarding remaining exit clauses in the squad and intimated that they were no longer a problem for the club.

“We spoke quite open, honest and transparent that it would be a bumpy August,” he said.

"There are exit clauses in the contracts of many players but our style is not to speak about details in the contracts because it's not professional. The closer we edge to the end of the window the more and more we are in control. This is also what has happened in the last days. The situation has eased up a little.”

Farke revealed that Sinisterra had joined want-away Gnonto and Helder Costa in a separate training regime and the trio have moved out of the dressing room. But the Colombian’s circumstances are not the same as Gnonto’s.

The Italian international informed Farke last week that he could not travel to face Birmingham having been informed by the club that he would not be sold.

“At the moment Helder Costa, Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra are training separate to the group, they have individual training,” said Farke.

"They have also moved out of the dressing room. With Helder everything is quite relaxed because we had a pretty honest conversation, he wants to have a move. It's our wish as a club as well there will be an end. There's no complaints.

"With Luis Sinisterra it's also different in comparison to Willy. With Willy we spoke about this. There is no exit clause, we've made it quite clear we won't sell him. With Luis it's different. He had some exit clauses in his contract and some open legal question marks and contractual question marks and for that he was not available for the last game.

"Until everything from a legal point of view is clear then he won't train with the group because in his mind he can't focus fully on football and we don't want the group distracted. We have decided to move him also out of our group. In the last days there were some movements, we wait for a final judgement from a legal point of view. Today all those three players were training separately and we'll see what the outcome is.”

Earlier this week there were reports that Bournemouth had become the second club to activate a relegation clause in Tyler Adams’ contract. It was suggested that a bid of around £20m would facilitate a move away from Leeds for the US Men’s National Team captain.

Chelsea appeared set on signing the midfielder last week until a change of heart saw him return to Leeds. The YEP understands that Adams trained this morning at Thorp Arch and Leeds have consistently expressed their hope that he will remain. Adams is currently working his way back to full fitness after hamstring surgery that ended his 2022/23 season prematurely, and a subsequent set-back.