Daniel Farke on remaining Leeds United recruitment expectation, position admission and striker answer — YEP 9/8/26
By Lee Sobot
Daniel Farke on Leeds United’s squad after Saturday’s
victory against RB Leipzig.
Daniel Farke is reluctant to give too much away in
discussing Leeds United’s remaining transfer plans but admits a good guess can
be had at a particular position that needs strengthening.
Farke saw his side continue an impressive pre-season on
Saturday by scoring two goals without reply in two sets of 60 minutes against
RB Leipzig, Leeds winning both halves of football 1-0 for what Farke is
counting as two victories.
Farke gave home debuts to summer signings Tarik Muharemovic
and Harry Wilson whilst the club’s new record signing goalkeeper James Trafford
is set to train with his new teammates for the first time on Tuesday ahead of
Wednesday night’s friendly against Manchester United in Dublin.
Leeds will begin their second season back in the Premier
League with a trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, August 22 and Farke
“expects” that Leeds will further bolster their squad ahead of the second year
back in the top flight which the Whites boss has warned can be particularly
difficult.
Farke, though, is keen to avoid declaring exactly what
positions are being looked at, even though the German admitted that Gabi
Gudmundsson’s injury clearly highlighted a lack of options at wing back.
Amid a strong dependency on Dominic Calvert-Lewin upfront
last season, the Whites boss would not specifically go into detail if another
striker was something specifically being looked at.
Asked by the YEP what he was thinking next in terms of
signings and in particular goals in the team and therein another possible
striker, Farke said: “We are on a good position.
“Of course, we don't bring that many players in like for our
example our first season back on Premier League level.
"I think it's important again to be also picky which
characters we want to bring in and which type of players we need.
"Especially with the last two signings with James
Trafford and Muharemovic - we have decided also for the future for young
players who are still more or less very early in their career.
"But we also need still experience and also quality for
a very difficult second year after promotion.
"It's always the same, the second year, once that first
initial rhythm of promotion is a bit away it's very often very tricky for that
we are fully aware that a difficult season lies ahead and for that and we want
to prepare in the best possible way and for that, I expect also that we will do
something.
"But I don't want to speak about it too much on
profiles or positions because then it's also more or less like the price goes
up if we negotiate with other clubs.
"For that, we keep our business quite secret and we
have spoken openly and a few months ago about what we want to do.
"But right now when it's really about like to bring
some players in I think it's not really beneficial if I speak too much about
names or positions anyhow because a managers' price would just go up and for
that we want to work sustainably, so we also work with limited resources, and
for that we have to be smart. I am also convinced that business is not done
yet."
Reflecting on the injury to Gudmundsson who could miss the
first two games of the season with a muscular injury, Farke said: “It's not
great, especially on the wing back positions because it's not like we have too
many options so you can guess a little bit which positions I would like to add
out of my answer but let's see what happens.
"It's definitely not good news that Gabi is not
available."
