'Several months' — Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reveals January Georginio Rutter transfer warning — YEP 21/8/24
By Graham Smyth
Daniel Farke has revealed he warned Leeds United to start
preparing for Georginio Rutter's transfer exit in January.
The French forward has moved to Brighton after the Premier
League outfit activated a £40m exit clause in his contract, leaving Farke with
a gaping whole in an attack that had already lost star man Crysencio
Summerville to West Ham United. Summerville, Rutter and Archie Gray [£40m sale
to Tottenham Hotspur] are yet to be replaced by the Whites with just over a
week remaining in the summer transfer window.
Farke has made it clear he needs more cover at full-back, a
central midfielder, a winger and now a replacement for Rutter, who occupied the
10 role far more naturally than the likes of Joel Piroe. Although Farke insists
that, like in the case of Summerville, there can be no like-for-like Rutter
replacement due to Leeds' financial constraints in the Championship, he asked
the club;s recruitment department to begin working on this scenario months ago.
"I have asked everyone who is working on this topic to
prepare months ago for this scenario when I was aware of exit clauses," he
said. "Georgi is pretty unique the way he plays, when he shows his quality
and potential he can be an extraordinary player. I think it was perhaps not
realistic five months ago to think about this, but since January I urged
everyone in our scouting department to be prepared to play without Georginio
and Cree Summerville. I’ve urged them to work on this not just a few weeks ago
but several months. One thing is to work on this replacement and the other is
to bring it over the line."
Leeds will, Farke believes, have to play against Sheffield
Wednesday on Friday night without the aid of any new signings but he hopes to
be able to speak about the arrival of additions next week. He is, however,
reticent to express much in the way of confidence because he believes
supporters want to see rather than hear about the club's recruitment efforts.
"I don't want to speak about being optimistic," he
said. "I've spoken so often about where I feel we stand. We don't need to
say we're confident. A little less conversation, a little more action. It's
important we have some sooner rather than later, this is what we have to
deliver. In order to be competitive for the really top positions we definitely
need a few additions because the squad is too small."