Leeds United manager Daniel Farke gambled big when he sanctioned the club’s plan to sign Dominic Calvert-Lewin on a free transfer in the summer. The former Everton man has had injury troubles over the last couple of seasons, but the club still went ahead to sign him.
Calvert-Lewin was not Leeds’ first choice in the summer transfer window, and the forward was also keen to join a club with more Premier League pedigree. However, he agreed to move to Elland Road while rejecting a big-money offer from Turkey as he wanted to continue to play in England.
The 28-year-old forward is still getting up to speed at Leeds, and Farke has yet to start him in a Premier League game. The German coach is keen to build his fitness before giving him a starting eleven berth at Elland Road.
The striker will be doing a lot of fitness work during the international break, and is likely to be in better shape ahead of Leeds’ trip to Fulham, but Farke has ruled out doing one thing with Calvert-Lewin.
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Leeds United manager Daniel Farke reveals fitness plan for Calvert-Lewin
It’s become common practice for senior players returning from injury to feature in their club’s Under-21 matches as a way to rebuild fitness and regain match sharpness.
However, Farke has ruled out sending Calvert-Lewin to play for the Leeds Under-21s as he doesn’t think that’s necessary for him at this stage.
He pointed out that the striker has barely featured over the past two years and also missed pre-season. For that reason, he believes the player should focus on regaining fitness behind the scenes while earning minutes with the first team, rather than dropping down to the Under-21s.
“Dominic has more or less 250 Premier League games; he was not out with a long-term injury. But he has not played football for months, and no pre-season with the team”, he was quoted as saying by the Yorkshire Post.
“So in this case, it makes more sense to get the minutes together with us. It’s not the plan right now to send him to the Under-21s.
“It always makes sense for younger players – or a more experienced player after a long-term injury – to find the confidence and the rhythm for coming back. But not for a player who’s just missing pre-season.”
Farke needs the striker to fire
Leeds’ inability to secure further attacking reinforcements before the transfer window closed, combined with the deadline day drama surrounding their pursuit of Harry Wilson, has only piled more pressure on Farke.
The manager didn’t get the required attacking reinforcements, and now needs Calvert-Lewin, Noah Okafor and Lukas Nmecha to fire.
Leeds are hopeful that the former Everton striker will come good in the Premier League, despite scoring just a handful of goals in the top-flight in the last few seasons.
If Calvert-Lewin proves to be a dud, Leeds could be in real trouble in the Premier League relegation dogfight.
How is this a “shock fitness bombshell’? Its been known for weeks that this was Farke’s plan for DCL.
In other shocks, the sun came out for a bit!
you got to love the ambition. Washed striker, free and now our saviour. If we score 20 goals from open play this season I will be amazed. We bought really well for a return to the Champ