Leeds United kicking Largie Ramazani into shape for new challenge — Yorkshire Post 30/8/24

By Stuart Rayner

Leeds United have been turning a blind eye to some tasty training-ground tackles on Largie Ramazzani to get him up to speed for Championship football.

The winger signed from Almeira last week has never experienced Championship football, but with Dan James set to miss Saturday's visit of Hull City, manager Daniel Farke has been trying to assess his readiness.

The closest the 23-year-old has come is playing in Manchester United's academy, and for their under-21s at Rotherham United in the Football League Trophy.

Since then he has moved up a level, spending two years playing in La Liga after Almeria’s promotion – he even has home and away goals against Real Madrid to brag about.

And whilst the Championship cannot match Spain's top division, which Almeira were relegated from last season, for quality it brings its own challenges physically.

Leeds have been doing their best to get him up to speed.

"It's one of the things where we need to give him time and work with him," acknowledged Farke, a German who has come to regard England as a footballing home.

"It's beneficial he's been involved in English football at the academy level because even at academy level English football is a bit more proper and not so soft as in other European countries – I love it, by the way.

"But of course he comes from a different football culture, a different league, and it would be unfair to say you've just come from La Liga and you're fully prepared for all the demands and the intensity of the Championship and English football.

"We have it sometimes still with (Italian) Willy Gnonto that he is in disbelief at how situations are not judged as a foul. It's still a work in progress.

"The more you work in the Championship and English football, the more you get used to it. It will be the same for Largie.

"We've spoken a lot about this already and he has realised in training it's a different physicality. Our training referees allow a bit more so he is prepared.

"We will work on his temperament to keep his calm when decisions don't go in his favour, to prepare his body for the physical level.

"It's not like you come in, press a button and it works.

"But we also hope that because he has played in a good league and has played against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona you have a proper player and in other ways he is prepared.

"If we didn't have the belief that he can develop to stand these physical battles, we wouldn't have signed him.

"We can bring him to the door, then it's up to him to step through the door. There's no guarantees but this is what we're trying to do."

Farke, who also saw Leeds loan fellow winger Manor Solomon from Tottenham Hotspur this week, is rightly anxious that expectations of the pair are realistic.

"Largie Ramazzani is judged a bit like the replacement for Cree Summerville or Georginio Rutter but he's not," he insisted. "I don't want to put pressure on his small shoulders.

"He's a young player who has not played one game in English football, at least not at senior level.

"He was playing in a really good league (starting in the Segunda Division when he joined in 2020) but in a different country, a different football culture. It will be a while until he's ready for the physical demands of proper English football.

"We will give him time to adapt and develop but he is also important for the medium-term future because he is a player with bags of potential and lots of skills and he's a great human being.

"It took Georginio Rutter half a year to settle into English football. When we think about Cree Summerville it was not his first season with us when he was shining.

"I want to make sure we don't put too much pressure on the shoulders of the young guys.

"Manor Solomon is slightly different because he is proven at this level, he's even proven his worth in Champions League games (for Shakhtar Donetsk) and for Fulham he was excellent at Premier League level. At Tottenham, sadly, he had a difficult year in terms of injuries (last season).

"We'll give him time to reach his full fitness. It's not like you press a button and it works straight away. We work with them on the training pitch and give them time to adapt.

"It's also important they feel my patience, my trust and my backing.

"I don't expect them to cut the world to pieces on Saturday but the sooner they deliver, the better it is."

James, who was born in Hull and played for their academy, will not face them on Saturday after being pulled out of Craig Bellamy's first Wales squad.

"It's a minor injury," explained Farke, who continues to be without Patrick Bamford. “He won't travel with the Welsh squad but I hope to have him back for the Burnley game (on September 14).”