Daniel Farke vows return to Leeds United transfer policy that turned £6m trio into first team stars — YEP 11/12/23

Daniel Farke wants Leeds United to return to the transfer policy that has provided him with three of his key players this season.

By Graham Smyth

Defender Pascal Struijk, goalkeeper Illan Meslier and Crysencio Summerville have all played pivotal roles in the Whites' impressive campaign thus far under Farke, who arrived at Elland Road in the summer. Struijk has taken over from Liam Cooper as the first-choice left-sided centre-back and has also taken the captain's armband whenever both Cooper and Luke Ayling are not on the pitch. The Dutchman's contribution to Leeds' passing game has been huge and although he has not been perfect, defensively, his form has been the best seen from him arguably since the 2020/21 season.

Although it became clear in the summer that Meslier would not be moving on, it appeared he would face a challenge to the undisputed number one position he had held almost continuously since his breakthrough in 2020. Karl Darlow was signed to provide competition for the Frenchman and yet Meslier has played every minute of every Championship game and looked more like the confident teen who replaced Kiko Casilla than the confidence-shot youngster who lost his place under Sam Allardyce late last season. As for Summerville, his contribution can be summed up by, but is not limited to, his goal contribution numbers. Nine goals and six assists have made him one of the second tier's most dangerous and in-form attackers and a player upon whom Farke can depend for big moments.

The trio were signed in consecutive years, in what can now be viewed as a purple patch for the previous Elland Road regime's recruitment department. Struijk came on a free from Ajax in 2018, Meslier followed in 2019 - initially on loan from FC Lorient - and Summerville joined them at Leeds in 2020 from Feyenoord. Their combined transfer cost was around £6m and yet now they would each command fees in multiples of that sum. The finding of hidden gems in foreign markets and procuring them for bargainous prices was not a strategy Leeds pursued in the 2023 summer transfer window, principally because the here and now demanded just about all of the club's attention. There was so much to do in terms of handing the post-relegation mass exodus and the building of a new squad for Farke that it was all hands to the pumps. But while Farke acknowledges just how difficult it is to find and develop a talent like Summerville, that's a road he wants to see Leeds exploring again.

"To be honest it's also not that easy to bring each and every time a player out like Cree Summerville, labelled at the moment as the best offensive player in this league, so it's not always possible to bring each and every season a player like this into the first team level - it's hard work," said Farke. "In developing their personality and also their skills on youth level, you have to work hard, but I think overall this club has a great track record in these terms. Yes, in recent years, sometimes it was a bit more difficult in comparison to perhaps several years ago but it has also to do with that it's perhaps a bit easier to come through while the first team is playing League One or Championship level in comparison to Premier League level. I think it should always be a major part and major value in our club that we want to develop our own players and create first team players out of them, or to create values if we want to sell them one day. I think this should always be a part of the philosophy of Leeds United and to be honest this is also what we want to develop."

Farke readily admits that his whirlwind introduction to life at Elland Road prevented him from giving future recruitment too much of his attention but he vows that it's something he will increasingly turn to as his tenure goes on. He said: "It's not that easy as first team manager when you have such a turnaround like we had in the summer to concentrate just on these topics in the first months. But more like to be there with the right decisions, offer them this chance and to create also a path is quite important. You can also be sure that the longer I work for this club, the more attention I will also put on on this level because this should always be a cornerstone of our philosophy, yes."

In truth recruitment for the Under 21s, especially the work done outside the UK, had slowed at Leeds well before Farke arrived. Summer 2022 deadline day signing Willy Gnonto could fall into the same bracket as the three players currently occupying starting positions, because he was purchased for a remarkably small fee, but he was brought in at a time when Leeds needed a first team attacker and was not afforded the time to develop in the Under 21s. Likewise January 2023 new boy Georginio Rutter, whose fee is never likely to be seen as thrifty and who was incorrectly identified as an immediate solution to the same problem that existed when they signed Gnonto.

A range of issues have been identified with Leeds' recruitment under Victor Orta's watch and Andrea Radrizzani's ownership - all the talk of signing the right characters was made to sound like pure bluster as players tripped over each other making for the exits having crumbled under the weight of Premier League standards and the squad, by the end, was neither this nor that, misshapen and lacking in a number of areas. But Struijk, Meslier and Summerville all represented good business. In the case of Summerville especially, that business can only look better and better. This is a new era at Leeds under the 49ers, but it need not entirely be out with the old at Elland Road.