Leeds United didn’t undergo any major changes in the winter transfer window, in terms of outgoings or incomings. Joe Gelhardt was expected to be loaned out after getting more or less frozen out of the first team by Daniel Farke. The Leeds boss also refrained from signing anyone after a failed attempt to sign Cameron Archer towards the end of the window. The Whites are reasonably confident they have the squad to get promoted to the Premier League. The club also rejected a big-money offer for Mateo Joseph from Real Betis. Some believe Leeds should have sold the Spaniard given his lack of impact this season. However, Leeds had a chance to sell one more player in January and recent events have shown that they should have taken that opportunity.
The decision to not sell Joseph was understandable as despite scoring just two goals, he is the only fit striker Leeds United have in their squad beyond Joel Piroe.
However, Leeds could have used other opportunities to raise funds and clear out players from their squad who are only making up the numbers for the moment.
A few other Leeds players had interest from Europe but the Whites decided against weakening their squad without the guarantees of a replacement coming in.
Leeds could have particularly used the winter transfer window to sell one of their more injury-prone players and one of them had interest from Austria.
Red Bull Salzburg were keen to take Max Wober back but Leeds decided against cashing in on the Austrian whose knee problems have been well-documented since early in the season.
Wober has done little since arriving at Leeds United
Leeds signed Wober from Red Bull Salzburg in the January transfer window of 2023 when the Whites were desperately looking to survive in the Premier League.
He made 16 Premier League appearances but could do little to stop the club’s slide back into the Championship at the end of that season.
Wober was quick to find a way out of Leeds following their relegation and joined Borussia Monchengladbach on loan in the summer of 2023.
The defender returned last summer and made the right noises when he was not getting an opportunity to play at the start of the season but he has been far too injury-prone.
A knee injury he picked up on international duty in September has continued to bother him all season. His injury problems this season have meant that Farke has never been able to count on him.
He has had a few decent games but has featured just six times in the Championship and is now out until April due to another issue with his problematic knee.
It seems unlikely that Leeds are going to get many games out of him once he returns as Farke has a settled line-up and will not make any unnecessary changes at the business end of the season.
Leeds will unlikely receive a significant offer for him in the summer
Wober’s injury issues and previous performance in the Premier League mean Leeds will likely look to move him on next summer if they achieve promotion to the top flight.
However, they will never get anywhere near the €12m they paid for him in January 2023 and will probably have to accept a massive knocked-down price for him.
In the winter window, they had an interested party in Red Bull Salzburg and Leeds could have commanded a good fee had they decided to sell Wober.
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However, another knee surgery will likely end any Leeds hope of getting a good fee for him in the summer as no club would likely want to spend a significant sum for a player who has a dodgy knee.
It seems likely Leeds will end up rueing not selling a player in January who has not featured much this season and has had knee issues all year.
