Leeds United's plan to cope with problem left by transfer deadline day disappointment — YEP 11/9/25

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United failed to land the marquee attacker Daniel Farke wanted before the deadline.

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke admits there was no 'dancing on the table' after a disappointing deadline day but insists he has a plan to make his side dangerous enough.

The Whites manager went on record a number of times during the summer to make it clear he wanted to improve his attacking options with further signings. Leeds believed they had deals in place for a trio of players - Igor Paixão, Facundo Buonanotte and Harry Wilson - only to be denied by changes of heart. Paixão opted to go to Marseille and Leeds were gazumped by Chelsea's move for Buonanotte, which came after a flight had already been booked to bring him to West Yorkshire. Wilson was the subject of a deadline day pursuit that ended when Fulham decided they would not sell him to Leeds.

Failing to get at least one more attacker in prompted a backlash against the club's owners 49ers Enterprises but Farke refused to join the chorus of concern for their survival hopes.

"First of all I'm already focused on the next game," he said. "Thank God deadline day is a few days gone. It's fair to say we did not dance on the table. I don't want to talk any nonsense. I've got a few principles how I work and this is crucial for me. One principle is I like openness and transparency, name it how I see it and speak in general of what is necessary to do as a club. We have such a big group of supporters, my principle is I don't want to navigate around some cliffs, I want to name it as it is. This is how I work.

"The second principle is, once a transfer window is closed and I can't influence it any more you won't hear a bad word from me in terms of being angry or disappointed. I'm pretty fortunate to be able to work in this business and have to adapt to the reality. What would my players think if I felt sorry for myself or was negative? I don't want to say completely different things to what I said before, it would be nonsense if I came out and said it was never the plan to sign more players. This would be nonsense. But I adapt to the reality, I'm there for my players and I have to lead."

Farke’s plan for Leeds United going forward

Farke understands the worries put forward by the club's fanbase and the media when it comes to an attack that is full of question marks. He wants the squad to take the external pessimism and use it as fuel.

"I don't have any message," he said. "The outside world, our supporters or the press can also criticise and be concerned or disappointed, everything is allowed. It's football and emotion. I'm not paid that Leeds make my life easy, I'm paid to make the most of what we've got. I'm not stupid, I can read the comments, the worry that we have Daniel James, Willy Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson and Jack Harrison and three years ago it wasn't enough. I see the comments that it was not good enough three years ago. I tell my players to take this as extra motivation and use it to fight. You have to show the world we're better players than nearly three years ago."

Having turned the club around after the 2023 relegation from the Premier League Farke says too much work has been done to accept the reality put forward by pundits that they will follow the recent example of one-season wonders. But he admits the road ahead is long and arduous. There is lots of hard work to do to make Leeds dangerous and not just solid and competitive. Farke has laid out his plan.

"First of all, leading from the front and being positive and giving backing and trust to my players, where there are many doubters around it at the moment, and giving them confidence," he said. "That's quite important. Hard work is always the answer to all the questions. I'm a big believer in hard work. I'm a big believer in the mid and long term, you always get what you invest.

"Perhaps, to be fair, we don't have the best individual quality in this league. So for that, we have to make sure that we are probably, if somehow possible, the fittest team. So if I have a look at our physical data, so far, in these terms, we have outperformed our opponents so far, and we have to keep going. Also in this we have to make sure that our fighting spirit, our team spirit, our togetherness, is top class.

“What we do on the tactical front is quite important, that our preparation for the games, our tactical tweaks within the games is quite important, yes, and of course, also to work on our offensive options. We have to work a bit more on team processes in terms of creating chances and scoring goals. And this is what we are trying to do, but not just the offense. All my defensive players are invited also to chip in with goals. For example, out of set-piece, an important topic for us. There's not just one answer to it, we have to work on different topics to be competitive in order to score the amount of goals that we need."