Leeds United manager Daniel Farke is under fire at Elland Road amid a worsening run of form. The German is expected to get dismissed in the coming days if results don’t improve.
The Whites are on a horror run of form, which has seen them lose their last four games on the trot, and they have suffered six defeats in their last seven.
Leeds have decided to get rid of Farke if the team lose both their home games against Chelsea and Liverpool this week. The manager is now likely to be gone by the start of next week.
The club want any new manager to have a say on transfers ahead of the January window. They have serious doubts about Farke’s judgment on players after last summer.
Leeds United blame Daniel Farke for the summer transfer mess
Leeds spent more than £100m on 10 new signings in the summer transfer window to overhaul the squad that won promotion to the Premier League last season.
However, according to the Guardian, the Leeds hierarchy only consider Sean Longstaff and Gabriel Gudmundsson as unqualified successes since their arrival.
The Leeds manager has complained about the lack of more attacking signings in the summer. Patrick Bamford was allowed to leave without bringing in a replacement.
However, it has been claimed that Leeds insiders believe the manager needs to take a large part of the blame for last summer’s transfer mess at Elland Road.
Several Leeds officials believe the German coach focused too much on physicality. Not enough priority was given to the technical quality of the players the club signed.
| Player | Transfer Fee (£m) |
|---|---|
| Anton Stach | £17.3m |
| Noah Okafor | £18m |
| Jaka Bijol | £18.5m |
| Lucas Perri | £15.6m |
| Sean Longstaff | £15m |
| Gabriel Gudmundsson | £10m |
| James Justin | £9m |
| Sebastiaan Bornauw | £5.1m |
| Dominic Calvert-Lewin | Free |
| Lukas Nmecha | Free |
Leeds also wasted money on players such as Sebastiaan Bornauw. He has not been considered good enough to play in the Premier League for even a minute.
Farke has a huge say on transfers as Leeds had a new recruitment team in place last summer.
Key recruitment adviser Nick Hammond departed Leeds for Everton last summer. He followed chief executive, Angus Kinnear, in making the same move.
Leeds responded by promoting Adam Underwood from head of football operations to sporting director.
Leeds made several mistakes in the summer
The squad needed a complete overhaul, and while it was that on paper, in reality, Leeds barely improved the starting eleven from last season.
Leeds needed a very good goalscorer to survive in the Premier League. However, they signed two strikers on free transfers who have scored a combined five goals.
Anton Stach has looked good in patches. However, he has limitations to his game, and Noah Okafor hasn’t had the consistent impact on the team’s attack.
Jaka Bijol still has to prove that he is good enough to play in the Premier League. Leeds fans are yet to see Bornauw play in the Premier League.
James Justin is a good backup in the full-back areas. However, he is an example of Leeds going about improving the squad in the wrong way.
A club in Leeds’ position needed to bring in starting eleven quality players, which would have invariably improved the overall squad.
The team clearly lack technical quality, and Farke is now being blamed as the club close in on sacking him in the coming days.
Farke will have given the recruitment team a list of players for each position in order of preference, the amateur recruitment team lied about spending all they could – in fact they refused to pay for the best on the list so gambled on the players at the bottom. Farke only had 2 of his chosen men. Let’s face it – you cannot sack the board or players so the manager is always the scapegoat. Hammond would have brought in many of the players Sunderland bought instead.