Why Daniel Farke will not panic if Whites end up a striker light — Yorkshire Post 31/1/25

By Stuart Rayner

Daniel Farke has pointed to some of Europe's biggest clubs as to why Leeds United fans should not fret if they do not a sign a striker before Monday's transfer deadline, although he insists they are looking.

But there was some transfer-window reassurance from the Whites manager, who is confident there will be no late departures.

After reports on Thursday that a deal for Newcastle United left-back Matt Targett was close, Farke reiterated his stance that he is only looking for players who can play in the hole, at centre-forward and centre-back.

He feels he has sufficient cover in the latter two positions if everyone is fit, but is wary of placing too much faith in the bodies of Pascal Struijk and Patrick Bamford, which let them down last season.

Central defender Struijk returned to team training from a hamstring injury this week and could put himself in contention to face Cardiff City, but such injuries have a habit of recurring, whereas Bamford has been dogged by problems since injuring his ankle shortly after his England debut in September 2021.

Although Willy Gnonto and Daniel James have played as centre-forwards for Leeds, Joel Piroe and Mateo Joseph are the only other specialists in the squad, yet Farke pointed to bigger-budget clubs in a similar position.

He said again he only wants players whose character will not upset the squad chemistry, and who are of sufficient quality at a realistic price. There are reports an initial bid to take former Sheffield United and Middlesbrough striker Cameron Archer on loan from Southampton has been rebuffed.

"I don't think it's necessary to have six or seven striker options because I was a striker myself and I know how you feel," argued Farke, whose preferred formation has only one playing at a time. "If you haven't scored after 30 minutes or 50 minutes and the flag goes up and you are substituted and you have to wait three more weeks until you get another chance, it's not that easy.

"Strikers need backing, trust and rhythm and also to know if there's a game where they don't score, a poorer performance, there is still the confidence, trust and backing there.

"But of course it's a long season with 46 (Championship) games and two cup competitions and we have a chance to be in one more cup competition (the FA Cup) and be successful.

"Due to the ongoing injury problems with Patrick we have more or less two options (at centre-forward) and if one of them was injured it would be difficult to have just one available.

"I really hope Patrick is back pretty soon, he's in the final stages of his rehab, but (we also have to) stay awake. If you want to be ambitious as a club it could be tricky if we are just more or less an injury away from not being able to bring a (specialist) striker into the game and having to go with other options.

"If I have a look at the most ambitious teams in this UK, Spain and German I'm also struggling to see five striker options. Bayern Munich have Harry Kane, he plays and scores and if doesn't score, Bayern Munich is not successful, simple as that. Thomas Muller, our German legend, can also play as a striker but he's more like a back-up option.

"You look at Man City, Erling Haaland – if he scores, they are successful if not, they have a problem (January signing Omar Marmoush made his debut on Saturday).

"It's not that easy to have seven options (but) due to the situation with Patrick and because we are ambitious we are having a deeper look at what is possible. The most important thing is hopefully no injuries."

Farke is confident there will be no repeat of the last transfer window, when playmaker Georginio Rutter was sold to Brighton and Hove Albion after the season’s opening game.

Leeds were powerless when Brighton exploited a release clause in hi contract, but Farke is confident they would not handicap their push for Premier League promotion by being tempted even by a big bid in the run-up to Monday's 11pm cut-off for sales.

"The best interests of the football club is always we want to be successful," he argued. "For that we want to keep our best players.

"We have allowed a couple of loans for the players who didn't have that much game-time, with Joffy Gelhardt (who has joined Hull City) and Charlie Crew (Doncaster Rovers) for their development, this was totally okay.

"But the group is not too big so right now, I've spoke about the positions we'll look at. Apart from this we won't do anything.

"If in one of these positions there is a perfect fit, we will do something, if not I trust my whole group and we will be successful with what we've got."

Meanwhile Blackburn Rovers coach John Eustace has been fined £4,000 and warned after “implying bias” when he said referee Oliver Langford awarded Leeds a penalty his side would not have got at Elland Road in the New Year’s Day draw.