Daniel Farke says Leeds United would rather trust their youngsters than free agents — Yorkshire Post 3/10/24

By Stuart Rayner

With injuries starting to bite in his Leeds United squad, Daniel Farke says he would prefer to trust his young fringe players rather than dip into the free agent market.

Ilia Gruev became the latest addition to the injury list at Carrow Road on Tuesday, but as Farke addressed the media on Wednesday afternoon he was waiting on the results of a scan on the Bulgarian's knee.

If it proves serious, it will compound the injury expected to keep fellow midfielder Ethan Ampadu out for the rest of 2024, itself exacerbated by knee surgery for Max Wober. Wingers Manor Solomon and Daniel James will also miss Friday's televised Championship game at surprise front-runners Sunderland.

That the injuries are clumped together means Leeds are one new setback from potentially having to field an untested player at centre-back, in central midfield or on the wing. Farke insists he would be happy to do it.

"This is why several young players are involved in our training, perhaps a few more under-21s than was planned but you have to adapt," he pointed out. "All the players that train with us and are in our squad, I trust them, we work with them, we back them.

"If I need to bring them on the pitch in important games I would 100 per cent trust them to deliver. It's definitely an option."

So although Farke was not completely ruling out signing an out-of-contract player, who could join immediately rather than wait for the next transfer window to open, it would seem unlikely.

"I think it's one of our professional duties to be aware and check who's available and what we could do," he said.

"I'm not a big fan of signing players who are out of contract in the beginning of October because it means they've been out of team training since May – five months.

"Quite often the player who is injured now is back and ready to go earlier than the player who has been out for five months.

"Quite often it's a bit like a panic buy or to pretend to do something. It's professional to check it and sometimes there could be someone who really suits the needs in this moment so we should check this moment but if I'm honest I'm not a big believer in doing these signings in October.

"We'll wait and hope for a positive outcome for the scan on Ilia. If there's a shocking diagnosis that he's out for months, then we'll have a look but I can't confirm we'd do it.

"Otherwise it's a waste of money, a waste of energy and sometimes bad for the whole group because it sometimes sends the sign to other players who could be in the spotlight that we don't trust you so much.”

Leeds' youngsters reached last season's FA Youth Cup final with their leading light, Charlie Crew, capped at senior level in the summer.

Having brought through one prodigious youngster last season, Farke is wary of not loading too much expectation on 18-year-old Crew.

"Charlie's a young player, he came to us when he was 17. There were many comparisons to a 17-year-old Archie Gray and I think this is not fair.

"To play as a 17, 18-year-old guy regularly in first-team football for such a big club with such a heavy shirt and the ambition to go back sooner rather than later to the Premier League, it's not normal that he is more or less always in the starting XI or has a major amount of minutes.

"This happens perhaps once in 10 years so it would be unfair to expect him to do what Archie Gray has done.

"Charlie's a great character, always bright, open, always wants to learn. We try to work lots with him to improve him.

"I can just praise his character, he's down to earth, well educated, really humble, a really good guy and a really good football player but there's also a really big step between youth football and senior football. I label it a bit like completely different sport.

"For some it takes a little bit longer to make the breakthrough.

"I think he's on a really good path already at the age of 18 to have been involved for a few months training with the first team. It says a lot about his potential.

"Right now it's up to us to work with him and when it's time to unleash him, I will unleash him.

"When he's ready, he will go. If not, he has to be a bit more patient."

Defender Isaac Schmidt is the only possibility to return from injury for the last game before the international break, having suffered a glute injury against Coventry.

"We have a few injured players from the last weeks," said Farke. "I don't expect one to come back, perhaps Isaac Schmidt. It looks a bit better with him so we'll give it a go. and try in our last training session before the game.

"If he comes through he could be involved but I expect him to be the only one who could return after injury, so no major news."